U.S. women's four wins gold on the first day of finals in Varese, Italy at the 2014 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.
VARESE, Italy – The U.S. under 23 women’s four can call themselves world champions following Saturday’s finals at the 2014 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. The women’s pair followed with a solid finish for the silver medal. And the United States isn’t done yet. Sunday brings four more medal opportunities for the eights, lightweight men’s single sculls and lightweight women’s double sculls.
Erin Reelick (Brookfield, Conn.), Molly Bruggeman (Dayton, Ohio), Erin Boxberger (Overland Park, Kan.) and Kendall Chase (Evergreen, Colo.) kicked off the finals on Lake Varese with a gold medal and the best finish in the women’s four since the U.S. won gold at the 2010 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.
“We’ve been preparing for this all summer, and nothing was going to stop us,” said Boxberger, who returns from the gold medal under 23 eight. “Our key words were stay relaxed and aggressive. In that last sprint, that ‘relaxed and aggressive’ earned us a top spot.”
The U.S. crew looked confident and led the field from wire to wire, having gained more than four seconds on New Zealand by the halfway mark.
“The whole race, I stared at Erin Reelick’s back and just tried to stay internal,” said Bruggeman, who finished sixth in the quad last year, and sixth in the four in 2012. “The girls had my back the whole way. It was plain and simple, just keep with each other and stay together, and we’ll win a medal.
And that they did. It was gold for the U.S. with a time of 6:43.24 and New Zealand silver in 6:45.91. Canada took home bronze in a 6:47.42.
“It’s really gratifying,” said Bruggeman. “It’s my third year on the team and my first gold medal, so I want to say it’s well-earned.”
The four women, along with the women’s pair, will have a second opportunity to stand on the podium when they race tomorrow in the final of the women’s eight.
“I’m ready to repeat tomorrow, hopefully,” said Bruggeman. “Going into it, we have a good shot of doing well and executing.”
In the final of the women’s pair, New Zealand’s Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler stole the show, taking gold by more than 10 boat lengths and posting a new world best time of 7:02.89. The U.S. and Australia battled back and forth for the silver medal over the first half of the course, but Jessica Eiffert (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) and Agatha Nowinski (Sacramento, Calif.) pulled ahead in a solid second for silver, crossing the line in 7:15.84. Australia’s Jessie Allen and Genevieve Horton took bronze in 7:17.74.
It was a first under 23 medal for each of the U.S. women.
“We’re very happy. We’re tired, but we’re happy,” said Nowinski, who will stroke the eight Sunday. “We had a really good start, and a pretty good race, rhythmically, speaking. It was definitely our strongest. We hit some buoys a couple points in there, but, honestly, it gave us a lot of adrenaline, and I think we fed off that. Obviously, your goal isn’t to hit buoys, but it may have ended up being a good thing because we just attacked it all the more. We knew we had to make up for it.”
“Now we’re going to focus back to the eight,” said Eiffert, who will sit bow in the eight. “I know I’m really excited to race with all those girls. We’ve put in a lot of work this summer, the eight of us, and so to be able to see that come together is going to be awesome.”
In the final of the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls, the U.S. crew of Brittany Presten (Orinda, Calif.), Alia Shafi (Lafayette, Calif.), Emma Betuel (East Hampton, N.Y.) and Christine Cavallo (Windermere, Fla.) was third going across the 500-meter mark, but fell back to fourth at the halfway, and then fifth in the final stretch. Great Britain edged ahead in fourth place at the line, with the U.S. finishing in 6:47.59 for fifth. Germany led from start to finish to win gold in a 6:39.67. Italy took silver with a 6:40.80, followed by Switzerland’s 6:43.55.
Just before them, the U.S. men’s four with coxswain also finished fifth. The crew of Parker Ksidakis (Sacramento, Calif.), Michael Evans (Portland, Ore.), Eric Ledbetter (Seattle, Wash.), Jacob Morton (Seattle, Wash.) and Matthew Milner (San Francisco, Calif.) rowed in fourth place for the majority of the race. The U.S. crossed less than a second outside of the medals. Canada got off to a rough start and came back from fifth place in the first 500 meters to take the lead by the halfway mark. New Zealand sprinted from sixth to second in the final 500 meters. Canada won gold in 6:13.85, with New Zealand silver in 6:14.49 and France bronze in 6:19.32. Great Britain was fourth in 6:19.63, with the U.S. crossing in 6:20.02.
In the last race of the day, the U.S. men’s four, who advanced with a third-place finish in Friday’s semifinal, started out strong in the final, holding third place at the 1,000-meter mark. But by the 1,500-meter mark, Justin Murphy (Montclair, N.J.), Joseph Simon (West Bloomfield, Mich.), Kyle Peabody (LaGrange, N.Y.) and Chase Buchholz (Norfolk, Mass.) were overtaken by Spain and then Great Britain in the final sprint. The U.S. finished sixth with a time of 6:00.42.
The home crowd went wild for Italy’s gold medal finish in 5:55.37. Germany followed in 5:56.28 for silver, with Romania bronze in 5:57.19.
“We had a heck of a race today,” said Peabody. “We got into the thick of it and laid down everything that we had. I'm proud of the work we have done in this four in the short time that we've been together, and excited to support the rest of the squad in the remaining finals tomorrow. Hats off to Italy and the rest of the crews for a race well-rowed.”
In addition to the men’s and women’s eights that qualified from the heats, two U.S. crews advanced to finals from Saturday afternoon’s semifinals.
In the lightweight men’s single sculls, defending under 23 world champion Andrew Campbell, Jr. (New Canaan, Conn.) dominated in his semifinal Saturday, posting a 7:07.53 at the finish line. Hungary’s Daniel Matyasovszki finished second in 7:13.36, followed by Belgium’s Tim Brys in third. Joining them in Sunday’s final is Ireland, Turkey and Italy from the first semifinal.
Shawna Sims (Sarasota, Fla.) and Devin Norder (Sarasota, Fla.) advanced to the final of the lightweight women’s double sculls. The U.S. crew sprinted to a third-place finish, nearly overtaking Australia at the line. New Zealand won the semi with a time of 7:18.84. Romania, Switzerland and Greece advanced from the first semifinal. The U.S. has made the final only once in the history of the championships, with a sixth-place finish in 2011.
Coxswain Lindsay Meltz (El Dorado Hills, Calif.), Kate Roach (North Oaks, Minn.) and Elizabeth Youngling (Westport, Conn.) join Nowinski and Eiffert from the pair, and Reelick, Bruggeman, Boxberger and Chase from the four in the final on Sunday. Historically, the U.S. women’s eight has dominated this event and come to the championships as the two-time defending world champion.
In the final of the men’s eight, the U.S. will have another chance to take on heat winners Australia, who clocked the fastest qualifying time of the heats. The crew of coxswain Louis Lombardi, Jr. (Huntingdon Valley, Pa.), Alexander Perkins (Westport, Conn.), Patrick Konttinen (Tiburon, Calif.), Trevor Weaser (Plymouth, Ind.), Spencer Hall (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Kaess Smit (Guadalajara, Mexico), Gregory Davis (Daly City, Calif.), James Hamp (North Tonawanda, N.Y.) and Justin Jones (Bellmawr, N.J.) can also expect stiff competition from reigning under 23 world champion New Zealand, who returns its full 2013 crew to Varese.
The men’s pair and lightweight men’s double sculls just missed final qualifying spots, finishing fourth in their respective semifinals. In the pair, Jordan Vanderstoep (Soquel, Calif.) and Cole Reiser (Dallas, Texas) posted a time of 6:47.36. Chris Wales (Seattle, Wash.) and Matthew Maddamma (Pittsburgh, Pa.) put on a strong sprint in the first semifinal of the double, but fell short, finishing with a time of 6:44.96.
Samantha Casto (Dallas, Pa.) finished sixth in her semifinal of the women’s single sculls. The University of Virginia senior crossed the line in an 8:07.92.
Six other U.S. crews wrapped up their regatta on Saturday – men's single sculler Ben Davison (Seattle, Wash.) finished 22nd, lightweight women's single sculler Katarina Floyd (Kleinmachnow, Germany) finished 18th, the men’s quadruple sculls finished 15th, the men's double sculls finished 14th, the women’s quadruple sculls finished ninth and the lightweight men's pair won its B final for seventh place overall.
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