Three National Selection Regattas are now in the books, and for the National team members on both the mens and womens side, its all about volume training and preparing for US Trials in September and Worlds the first week of November in New Zealand. As the World Championships website declares as you open it: "Only 69 days to go!" Just how many micro-cycles of training is that?
According to National team veteran Susan Francia, periodized training aside, everything is cranking along quite well in the womens team. They have a win at the World Cup III in Lucerne under their belt and deep team of talented up-and-comers. An example is Francia's partner Meghan Musnicki for this 3rd NSR. "She is really strong," declared Francia of Musnicki, with a great deal of conviction. The duo won the pair final here at NSR 3 by 2 seconds, Francia and Erin Cafaro (reigning World Champs from Poznan 2009) won the NSR 1 and 2 by approximately 4 seconds in April and May. Seat-shifting a bit for this last NSR, Jamie Redman has three second-place finishes from NSR 1, 2 and 3 with different partners, Amanda Polk for #1 and #2 and Mara Allen for #3. Clearly a consistent performer in the pairs.
Speakin' of pairs. Francia still covets those two-oared boats, and is not afraid to declare her interest in doing a World Championships two-fer again in the pair and the eight. "But the coach is the boss!" She says quickly. "We have a really deep team so I don't know if that is going to happen this year," she adds. "The pair is a good challenge..." she thinks to herself for a minute..."I think there is going to be a lot of seating racing in the coming weeks!"
On the race today, which they won by 2 seconds but had ownership of it, "our teammates were really pushing us today." Megan Musnicki won here today with Francia, and was third in May with newcomer Katie Glessner in May NSR, fourth in the April NSR with another newcomer, Sarah Zelenka. Francia is the consistent winner in the pairs. She might do OK in that seat-racing. There is a small and eager posse of 2- finalists right at the stern of these top-three pairs at every race, and Francia suggests that changing partners in the pairs for practices has improved everyone's speed.
In the women's double, a similar shifting around of seats to find speed. Sarah Trowbridge found her groove with Jessica Reel for NSR 3, after a close second with Meg Walsh at NSR 2 in May. At #2, Reel had a somewhat distant third place with Megan Kalmoe. Today second place was Kate Bertko and Stesha Carle, third Megan Kalmoe and Margot Shumway. The first three boats came with about 1.5 seconds of space between, so a tad closer match for this sculling event. Carle and Bertko earned spot on team in Lucerne, but the women's team has been known to put declared crews into larger team boats; no word yet if they are doing that this year. We will have to wait for trials entry list to know for sure.
One of the most exciting and close races of the day occurred while many were still rubbing their eyes, chugging coffee, and gazing blankly down the course to see a real skirmish taking place. Focusing fast, observers could see three boats: Will Miller and Scott Gault, Eliot Hovey and Wes Piermarini, and Steven Whelpley and Jamie (I-sit-at-a-desk-and-still-row-fast) Koven, hitting the 1500 meter mark within striking distance of each other. Everyone learned something about sprinting on this one, top-three finished within 1 second, with Hovey and Piermarini really hitting the power after the 1500 to get that second place.
Men's pairs were a little more statistically scattered than the women over the three NSRs, but several repeat top-three performers should make Coach Tim McClaren's job a little easier. Maybe a spreadsheet? Brett Newlin and Jake Cornelius, winners today at the NSR 3, did so with just a half second over Silas Stafford and Sam Stitt. Newlin earned a fourth at NSR 1 with Guiseppe Lanzone, and a third at NSR 2 with David Banks. Cornelius? He was number one all the way, giving both Francia and Cornelius an NSR pairs hat trick. His previous partner was Charlie Cole, who earned a fourth today with Dan Walsh.
Second for the Men's pair was Silas Stafford and Sam Stitt, who appeared in previous NSRs in third and sixth respectively for NSR 1, and Stafford fifth in May. Third today at NSR 3 was Tom Peszek and Justin Stangel of the Oklahoma City Training Center, evidence that things are falling into place out there. No previous showings in NSR finals this year, but this pair along with Ross and James Grant went to Lucerne World Cup III as a 4- and earned a 9th. These guys are not too far out of their U23 and Wisco, Syracuse and Michigan days, so watch out.
OK, that wraps things up here at the temporary Princeton row2k office, apologies to all who missed Ed Hewitt this weekend. Happy training to all the US teams rowers, see you again at the trials. See two galleries of the racing here!
Comments | Log in to comment |
There are no Comments yet
|
row2k's Worlds coverage is brought to you in part by:
row2k's Worlds coverage is brought to you in part by: