PLOVDIV, Bulgaria -Thirteen crews will represent the United States at the 2012 World Rowing Senior and Junior World Championships tomorrow in the first day of heats.
In the junior women's four Kendall Chase (Evergreen, Colo.), Georgia Radcliffe (Vienna, Va.), Deirdre Fitzpatrick (Cheshire, Conn.) and Ruth Narobe (Portland, Ore.) will be first up, racing at 2 p.m. in the first of three heats against Germany, New Zealand, Belarus and Poland. The U.S. is the defending world champion in the event and should expect the competition to be aiming for them. The first three boats will advance to the semifinal.
Next up will be the junior men's four with coxswain crew of coxswain Jake Mendelson (Jacksonville, Fla.), Bradley Plunkett (Darien, Conn.), Samuel Helms (Snohomish, Wash.), Eli Brown (Dallas, Texas) and Nathan Smith (Kennett Square, Pa.). They will race in the first of two heats at 2:28 p.m. and draw Germany, Ukraine, France and Russia. Only one boat will advance directly to the final.
In the junior women's pair, Kathryn Brown (Federal Way, Wash.) and Christine Cavallo (Windermere, Fla.) row at 2:35 p.m. in the first of two heats against Belarus, Hungary, Bulgaria, Russia and Italy with one boat advancing to the final.
Rowing in the last of three heats will be the junior men's four crew of Ryan Hails (Osprey, Fla.), Ben Chuter (Portola Valley, Calif.), Allen Reitz (Long Beach, Calif.) and John Chuter (Portola Valley, Calif.). They will take on Croatia, Italy and Austria with three boats advancing to the semifinal.
Following them will be the junior women's quadruple sculls team of Rosemary Grinalds (New York, N.Y.), Elizabeth Sharis (Bettendorf, Iowa), Alexandra Zadravec (Fairfield, Conn.) and Cicely Madden (Weston, Mass.). They row at 3:24 p.m. in the last of three heats against Great Britain, Japan, Australia and Denmark. The first two boats advance to the semifinals.
In the junior men's quadruple sculls, the crew of Chris Wales (Seattle, Wash.), Ezra Carlson (Orleans, Calif.), Jacob Coert (Filmore, Calif.) and Alex Buck (Greenwich, Con.) will race at 4:06 p.m. in the last of six heats against Australia, Hungary, and Croatia with three boats advancing to the quarterfinals.
Next is the senior men's pair with coxswain crew of coxswain Stephen Young Jr. (Tampa, Fla.), Justin Stangel (Madison, Wis.) and Blaise Didier (San Francisco). They race at 4:13 in the first of two heats against Ukraine, Germany, Canada and Poland with two boats advancing to the final.
In the lightweight women's single sculls, Ursula Grobler (Pretoria, South Africa) races at 4:41 p.m. in the third of four heats and takes on Australia, Greece, Belarus, Kuwait, and Ireland with one boat advancing to the semifinal.
Grobler finished fourth in the event last year. Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece, comes into the race having won a bronze medal in London in the lightweight women's double and was the 2010 world champion. Also of note is Alena Kryvasheyenka of Belarus who won the under 23 world championship in the lightweight single this year.
Andrew Campbell (New Canaan, Conn.) rows at 4:55 in the first of six heats in the lightweight men's single sculls against Lithuania, Switzerland, Slovenia and Australia. Four boats advance to the quarterfinals. Campbell also finished fourth at last year's world championships and should be the top seed in this heat.
Having just missed out on a chance to row the lightweight men's double in London with Campbell, Beijing Olympian Will Daly (Vail, Colo.) will row with Greg Flood (Tulsa, Okla.) in the lightweight men's pair at 5:51 p.m. in the third of three heats against Serbia, Denmark, Ireland and Germany with the first boat advancing to the semifinal. The favorites in the event, Italy, New Zealand and The Netherlands are all in other heats.
The U.S. won the silver medal last year in Slovenia in the lightweight women's quadruple sculls and with two returning members of the crew, they hope to move up on the podium.
Hillary Saeger (Dedham, Mass.), Michelle Sechser (Folsom, Calif.), Lindsay Hochman (Seattle, Wash.) and Chelsea Smith (Edina, Minn.) row at 6:12 p.m. in the second of two heats against Switzerland, Korea, Japan and Italy with the first two boats reaching the finals.
In the lightweight men's quadruple sculls, the crew of Sam Cunningham (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Dave Smith (Seattle, Wash.) Bob Duff (Huntington Valley, Pa.), and Shane Madden (Ambler, Pa.) row at 6:26 p.m. in the second of three heats against Denmark, Turkey, Czech Republic and Japan with three boats advancing to the semifinals.
Demark is the biggest challenge in this heat having medaled at the Munich world cup stop.
The last race of the day for the U.S. goes off at 6:47 when the lightweight eight crew of coxswain Eric Rhiel (Menomonie, Wis.), Phil Grisdela (Great Falls, Va.), Ryan Fox (Edgerton, Wis.) Anders Corbett (Staten Island, N.Y.), Martin Forde (Mill Creek Wash.), Nick Dawe (Cincinnatti, Ohio), Will Robins (Chappaqua, N.Y.), Sam McKenna (Blue Bell, Pa.) and Andrew Hashway (West Boylston, Mass.) row in the first of two heats and take on Poland, China, Hungary, and Germany.
Germany will have the top boat going in and will be steered by Olympic Champion men's eight coxswain, Martin Sauer. Sauer has not lost a race since 2008 and he will have with him the crew that raced in London in the lightweight men's four.