On Monday, June 26, athletes from across the country will make their way to Mercer Lake in West Windsor, New Jersey to compete for a chance to race at either the 2017 World Rowing Junior Championships or 2017 World Rowing Under 23 Championships this summer. The regatta will take place over the course of five days, beginning Monday, June 26 and ending Friday, June 30.
Winning athletes will earn the right to represent the United States. The World Rowing Under 23 Championships will be held July 19-23, 2017 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Following that event, the World Rowing Junior Championships will be held August 2-6, 2017 in Trakai, Lithuania.
Under 23 Trials
The larger event of the two age categories, the Under 23 trials, boasts sixteen events, beginning with time trials on Monday. More than 130 athletes will compete for spots on the U23 team 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 men's and women's double sculls, men's and women's pair, lightweight men's pair, men's quadruple sculls, lightweight men's and women's quadruple sculls, men's four with coxswain and lightweight men's four.
Entries include several returning U23 athletes, as well as a handful of competitors trying for their first national team.
Emily Kallfelz, U23 single sculler, placed fourth last year racing in the women's double at the 2016 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. She previously has raced in the women's quad at the 2014 and 2015 World Rowing Junior Championships, securing a bronze medal in the latter year. Now a rising junior at Princeton University, Kallfelz aims to be a strong contender at this year's Under 23 Trials.
Entries also include experienced U23 rowers like Nick Montalvo, who placed 13th in the lightweight men's double at the 2016 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. This year, Montalvo will return to compete in the lightweight men's single. At ten entries, this is the most subscribed event at trials.
Justin Best, who raced in the men's eight at the 2015 World Rowing Junior Championships, is looking forward to racing for a spot on the U23 team, but this year's trials possess an additional level of significance for him.
Best is racing in the men's pair with his older brother, Garren Best. During the school year, Justin rows for Drexel University and Garren rows for St. Joseph's University. Shifting from rowing at rival universities to working together has proven to be a positive experience for both of them.
"It's interesting going from racing him at almost every race in eights, to rowing with him in a pair. Combining the two different strokes that our programs have ingrained in us, and finding a happy balance between the two is certainly a task," said Justin. "I'm really excited to see how it goes."
In the men's four with coxswain, Seattle Rowing Center is set to race a strong lineup of athletes from the University of Washington. The boat is made up of Ben Davison, Arne Landboe, Evan Olson, Tennyson Federspiel, and coxswain Rielly Milne. Both Milne and Landboe raced in the same event and Davison with the men's single at the 2016 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.
This boat, along with the men's quadruple sculls and lightweight men's four will race uncontested at Under 23 trials.
Under 19 Trials
Twenty-one athletes will compete in six events beginning Thursday, June 29, in hopes to earn a spot on the Under 19 team. The events to be contested include the men's and women's single sculls, double sculls and pair.
In the women's pair, Connecticut natives Kelsey McGinley and Kaitlyn Kynast have teamed up to represent the USRowing Under 19 Women's Selection Camp, against three other boats from the camp. Both McGinley and Kynast recently won gold medals at the 2017 USRowing Youth National Championships in the women's eight and women's pair, respectively.
In 2016, McGinley won bronze in the four, while Knast won bronze in the pair at the World Rowing Junior Championships.
Another standout in the U19 field is Clark Dean, a Concept2 American record-holder who has taken home bronze medals at two USRowing Youth National Championships, as well as a bronze medal in the quad at the 2016 World Rowing Junior Championships. This year, Dean will race in the single for a chance to represent the United States.