Two U.S. crews won medals at the 2007 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Strathclyde, Scotland. The women's quadruple sculls won gold, while the women's eight took home the bronze medal.
The women's quadruple sculls crew of Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.), Lindsay Meyer (Seattle, Wash.), Esther Lofgren (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Alison Fishman (Dallas, Texas) won gold in an exciting come-from-behind victory over Australia and Great Britain. The U.S. was last off the line, then moved into fourth position at the 1,000-meter mark after a boat-stopping crab took Denmark out of the lead. From there, it was an intense fight to the finish, as the U.S. powered through the competition in a 500-meter sprint to cross the line in a 6:34.11. Less than 2 seconds separated the top four crews - a margin shorter than USRowing Executive Director Glenn Merry's kilt. Australia took silver in a 6:33.38, with Great Britain following in a 6:34.11. Stone and Lofgren won gold in the women's eight at the 2006 World Under 23 Championships. Lofgren also was a member of the 2006 Senior National Team, where she won a bronze medal in the women's four at the 2006 World Championships in Eton, England. Meyer, a member of the 2006 Junior National Team, was a bronze medalist in the single sculls at the 2006 Junior World Championships.
"The race itself wasn't as decisive as it was in the heat; it was really competitive," said Lofgren. "Boats would move on us, and we would make a move back, while trying to stay focused on the interior. We moved up from fifth position, it was exciting - like riding a roller coaster. We sprinted the entire last 500 meters. Everybody out there was really high-caliber."
"It was one of the best races I've ever watched," said women's eight coach Melanie Onufreiff. "There were six good boats and they should feel happy with the result. This summer was a great camp for all the Under 23 team."
In the women's eight, coxswain Katelin Snyder (Winter Park, Fla.), Andrea Sooter (Bellevue, Wash.), Mara Allen (San Francisco, Calif.), Jamie Redman (Spokane, Wash.), Elle Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine), Suzanne Van Fleet (West Chester, Pa.), Megan Smith (Templeton, Calif.), Kerry Birk (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Anne Kennedy (Mt. Vision, N.Y.) took bronze. The U.S. pushed up into second place behind Belarus in the last quarter of the race, but couldn't hold off the charge of the German crew as it inched ahead in the last few strokes to win silver. Belarus won in a 6:15.20, closely followed by Germany in a 6:15.43. The U.S. clocked a 6:17.85, with Canada and Poland trailing. Katelin Snyder, Anne Kennedy, Megan Smith and Kerry Birk also were members of the 2006 Under 23 women's eight that won gold in the Hazewinkel.
"It was a good race, but a little bittersweet," said Smith. "I am excited and happy to medal, but after putting in all that hard work, you end up feeling like you deserve more. We just got beat by better crews. We made our moves where we planned, but today just wasn't our day."
"The Germans jumped out really fast, and we knew we had to keep pushing," said Logan. "We did what we could do, but they came out on top."
The men's eight crew of coxswain Adam Barhamand (Naperville, Ill.), Silas Stafford (Santa Rosa, Calif.), Nate Rooks (Bainbridge Island, Wash.), Will England (Marblehead, Mass.), Mark Murphy (Madison, Wis.), Alex Osborne (Los Angeles, Calif.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), Jesse Johnson (Mercer Island, Wash.) and Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.) finished fourth, missing the medal stand by just 0.35 seconds. Estonia won gold in a 5:33.90, with Germany clocking a 5:34.29 and Australia following in a 5:34.73.
"We came out of the start how we wanted to, but the chop was heavy," said Peszek. "Both of our key moves were effective, I just feel like we ran out of course at the end."
James Donovan (Easton, Conn.) and Todd Mickelson (Woodenville, Wash.) finished sixth overall in the men's lightweight double sculls final. The duo was last off the line, but moved into fourth position by the 750-meter mark. A boat-stopping crab at the halfway point allowed the other crews to move ahead and took the U.S. crew out of contention. France won the race in a 6:24.77, followed by Hungary, Germany, Italy and Poland in fifth. The U.S. finished in a 6:46.38.
Taryn O'Connell (Orinda, Calif.) and Jenny Cromwell (Bellevue, Wash.) finished sixth in Sunday's final, clocking a 7:35.01. Great Britain won the race in a 7:15.90, followed by Romania, Belarus, Ukraine and Germany.
The men's lightweight four crew of Alex Rothmeier (Boston, Mass.), Peter Reiser (East Williston, N.Y.), Kenny McMahon (Ladysmith, Wis.) and Greg McKallagat (Andover, Mass.) finished fifth in Sunday's B final. The U.S. crew fought hard to gain water on Australia and Denmark the last quarter of the race, but fell short in what was a tight contest for third place. The crew finished just 0.16 seconds behind fourth-place Denmark and 0.40 seconds off of third-place Australia. Germany won the race in a 6:08.32, with Canada second in a 6:09.28.