The United States men's eight competing at the 2015 World University Games captured gold Tuesday in Chungju, South Korea.
The U.S. crew of coxswain Hadzo Habibovic (Chicago, Ill.), Alex Brown (Pinckney, Mich.), Austin Gentry (Corona, Calif.), Ryan Searcy (Raleigh, N.C.), Kevin O'Connor (Claremont, N.H.), Wes Vear (Marquette, Mich.), Peter McHugh (Ashley, Ind.), Mitch Tyson (Monroe, Mich.) and Matt Herbers (Battle Creek, Mich.), led from the start and crossed first in 5:37.30. Ukraine was second in 5:40.80 and The Netherlands finished third in 5:41.86.
"All in all the men's team performed to my expectations," said men's head coach Gregg Hartsuff. "We prioritized the eight in selection, and those guys really started clicking the past few weeks.
"Strategically I concentrated on drive mechanics in the short month we had them, to get them pushing together on the drive. The blade work was passable, but the leg push was happening in the right way and together, and that was the basis of our speed.
"They went to the line very confident and ready to unleash on the field, which they did. They lead from coast to coast and never were in jeopardy of losing it really, opening up the margin to open water with a powerful sprint that pulled away from the field. It pretty much went exactly as we planned," he said.
The victory concluded three-days of racing at the venue built for the 2013 World Rowing Championships. In all, nineteen men and ten women competed in the regatta that featured racing for the U.S. squads in the men's and women's single sculls, lightweight men's and women's single sculls, men's and women's double sculls, lightweight women's double sculls, men's pair, men's and women's four and men's eight.
The World University Games is a multisport event held every two years. It is organized by the International University Sports Federation and open to university athletes. This year's games have U.S. representation in 21 sports with 550 athletes, the largest U.S. team in the history of the event.
Rowing in the men's single, Zach Petronic (Pittsburgh, Pa.) raced in the B final and finished second for eighth place overall. In the women's single, Dempsey Wartell (San Francisco, Calif.) was fifth in the C final and finished 17th overall.
In the men's lightweight single, Trevor Michelson (New York, N.Y.) won the C final and finished 13th overall. Lightweight women's single sculler Lindsay Crute (Augusta, Ga.)crossed sixth in the B finals and was 12th overall.
The men's double sculls crew of Clarke Cady-McCrea (Skaneateles, NY) and Stephen George (Indianapolis, Ind.) finished second in the B final and were ranked 14th. In the women's double, Kayla Yraceburu (Camas, Wash.) and Liz Mathews (Wichita, Kansas) were fourth in the B final for a 10th place finish.
Leigh Smith (Oklahoma City Okla.) and Marissa Catalanotto (Northport, N.Y) rowed in the lightweight women's double and finished fourth in the B final for a 10th place overall ranking.
In the men's pair, Walker Mills (Wynnewood, PA) and Thomas Watts (Shaker Heights, Ohio) finished sixth in the A final as did the men's four crew of Jacob Morton (Seattle, Wash.), Carl Smith (Phoenix, Ariz.), Ian Luetzow (Louisville, Ky.) and Tim Maytom (San Diego, Calif.).
The women's four of Hannah Anderson (McLoud, Okla.), Sara Coleman (Waynesville, Mo.), Madeline Kuntz (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Kate Flanders (Sarasota, Fla.) finished second in the B final for a eighth place overall finish.
For full results and remaining games schedule go here.
The video of the men's eight final is row2k's Video of the Day.
Comments | Log in to comment |
There are no Comments yet
|