The U.S. junior men's eight and junior women's pair advanced the finals on Friday to highlight the third day of competition at the 2005 FISA Junior World Rowing Championships in Brandenburg, Germany. Both crews finished second in their semifinals and will join the junior men's four with coxswain, junior women's four and junior women's eight in tomorrow's finals.
Racing in the second of two semifinals, the junior men's eight of Jimmy Germano (Pomona, N.J.), Mike Gilson (San Francisco, Calif.), Clayton Sachs (Lincoln, Mass.), Jesse Johnson (Mercer Island, Wash.), Neil Stanga (Arlington, Va.), Neil McPeak (Linwood, N.J.), Henrik Rummel (Vaerloose, Denmark), Michael Rossidis (Garden City, N.Y.) and Derek Johnson (Hillsborough, Calif.) finished second to advance to Saturday's final. The crew held the No. 2 position all the way down the course, clocking a 6:13.26. Germany won the semifinal in a 6:11.75, while Romania claimed the last spot in the final by defeating Italy by two seconds. In the first semi, New Zealand edged out Russia and France for the victory. New Zealand clocked a 6:13.66, followed by Russia in a 6:13.83 and France in a 6:14.13. Greece finished fourth, just missing a spot in the final.
The junior women's pair of Desiree Burns (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) and Kari Stenbakken (Sammamish, Wash.) also finished second in its semifinal. The duo got off the line in third position but overtook the Ukraine for second place before the midway point of the race. The U.S. then built a solid lead on the Ukraine through the 1,500-meter mark before holding off a late charge. Germany led the race from wire-to-wire, finishing with a time of 8:09.15. Burns and Stenbakken finished second in an 8:15.01, followed by the Ukraine in 8:15.87. South Africa finished fourth. In the other semifinal, Italy, Romania and Bulgaria advanced. Italy clocked a 7:59.71 to Romania's 8:00.36. Bulgaria finished third in an 8:21.85. The top three finishers in each semifinal advanced to the final.
The other three U.S. crews the reached the finals - the junior men's four with coxswain, junior women's four and junior women's eight - all advanced from Thursday's repechages, or second-chance races.
Several U.S. crews completed their racing at the junior world championships on Friday in placement finals.
Caroline Berson (Falls Church, Va.) easily won the C final of the junior women's single sculls to finish in 13th place overall. Berson led the race from start to finish, stroking a 9:04.69. Russia's Maria Lebedeva finished second in a 9:08.77.
Meredith Meehan (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Katrina Gagnon (Bettendorf, Iowa) finished third in the C final of the junior women's double sculls for a 15th-place finish overall. The duo sat in second place through the first 1,500 meters before Portugal edged them at the line. Meehan and Gagnon clocked an 8:34.91. Slovenia led from start to finish, coming home in an 8:27.33. Portugal finished second in an 8:34.77. The U.S. duo reached the C final after finishing second in the C/D semifinal earlier in the day.
Junior men's single sculler Sean Medcalf (Philadelphia, Pa.) finished second in the D final to place 20th overall. Medcalf clocked an 8:14.77 to finish 4.01 seconds behind the race winner, Nicholas Baker from Great Britain. Earlier in the day, Medcalf advanced to the D final by winning his D/E semifinal.
The junior men's double sculls tandem of John Cerrone (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Justin Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.) finished third in the D final for a 21st-place overall finish. The duo clocked a 7:16.06 to finish 3.12 seconds behind the D final winners from South Africa. Like Medcalf, Cerrone and Ochal won their D/E semifinal earlier in the day to advance to the D final.