The U.S. Junior National Team began racing Wednesday at the 2002 FISA Junior World Championships in Trakai, Lithuania.
Leading the way for the U.S. was the junior men’s eight. The crew of T.J. Massey (Quincy, Fla.), Chris Johnson (Ashby, Mass.), Mike Gottlieb (Falls Church, Va.), Alex Hearne (Princeton, N.J.), Adam Kosmicki (Marblehead, Mass.), Chris Richbourg (Woodbridge, Va.), Gary Champagne (Tiburon, Calif.), Kevin White (Cherry Hill, N.J.), and Mike Collins (Gladwyne, Pa.) finished a close second in its heat behind the crew from Romania. The U.S. will now race in a repechage, or second-chance race, on Thursday for a chance to advance to the final.
Rowing in the second of two heats, the U.S. boat clocked a 5:46.61 to finish less than one second behind the Romanians, who finished in a time of 5:45.75. The U.S. sat in third position at the midway point of the race, before taking the lead with just 500 meters to go. However, Romania was able to pass the U.S. boat in the final quarter of the race to advance directly to Saturday’s final. In the other heat, the Czech Republic clocked a 5:48.01 to advance to the final.
In the junior women’s eight, the U.S. crew of Kate Gorman (Newton, Mass.), Rachel Jeffers (Los Gatos, Calif.), Stesha Carle (Long Beach, Calif.), Ashley Jones (Alexandria, Va.), Kate Davison (Bedford, N.H.), Alexis Peterson (Williamsville, N.Y.), Alison Crocker (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.), Katie Verhey (Chicago, Ill.), and Carla Bezold (Alexandria, Va.) finished fourth in its heat behind Romania, Belarus, and Germany. The U.S. crew clocked a 6:40.84 and will now race in Thursday’s repechages. Romania won the heat in a time of 6:21.16 and advanced directly to the final, with Belarus finishing second in a 6:25.08 and Germany finishing third in a 6:30.39. In the other heat, Russia took the top spot and advanced to the final by clocking a 6:37.72.
The junior women’s pair of Kim Bailey (Bethesda, Md.) and Sarah Bowman (Goshen, Ind./Brookline, Mass.) finished second in its heat, clocking a 7:56.61. Romania won the heat in a time of 7:36.66 to advance directly to the final. Australia won the other heat in a time of 7:43.41. Bailey and Bowman will row in a repechage on Thursday.
In the junior men’s four with coxswain, Chad Taylor (New Milford, Conn.), Brian Freund (Linwood, N.J.), Ben Niles (Groton, Mass.), Morgan Henderson (Kensington, Md.), and Nick Henderson (Kensington, Md.) finished third in their heat. The crew, which will now race in a repechage, clocked a 6:36.63 to finish behind Poland and France. Poland and Romania, the other heat winner, advanced directly to the final.
In the junior men’s four, Greg McKallagat (Andover, Mass.), Matt King (Piedmont, Calif.), Justin Stangel (Madison, Wis.), and Will Lippit (Seattle, Wash.) finished fourth in their heat in a time of 6:32.15. The crew finished 3.29 seconds behind third-place Slovenia and will now race in a repechage. Italy and France won the two heats and advanced directly to the final.
In the junior women’s four, Liz Pallas-Jacobs (San Diego, Calif.), Megan Keyes (Seattle, Wash.), Betsy McCormick (Seattle, Wash.), and Anna Sjogren (Winchester, Mass.) finished fifth in their heat and will race in a repechage. The crew clocked a 7:31.96 to finish 23 seconds behind the heat winners from Belarus. Germany won the other heat to join Belarus in the final.
Peter Lynch (Dallas, Tex.) finished third in his heat of the junior men’s single sculls. Lynch clocked a 7:54.69 to finish 23 seconds behind the heat winner from Argentina. In the junior women’s single sculls, Abby Loughrey (Pittsburgh, Pa.) finished fourth in her heat, clocking an 8:34.93 to finish 20 seconds behind Emma Feathery, the heat winner from New Zealand. Both U.S. single scullers will race in repechages on Thursday.
Both the junior men’s and junior women’s double sculls finished sixth in their heats and will race in repechages on Thursday. The junior men’s double of Matt Morrow (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Craig Kilgo (Tallahassee, Fla.) clocked a 7:21.45. Bulgaria won the heat in a time of 6:45.83 and joined the other heat winners from the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland in the semifinals. In the junior women’s double sculls, Stacey Bowen (Broomall, Pa.) and Laura Hill (Malvern, Pa.) finished sixth behind Latvia in their heat. Latvia clocked a 7:19.48, while the U.S. boat stroked a 7:57.71.
Racing continues Thursday with repechages and concludes on Saturday with the finals.