Early races for the crews competing in the 2017 Junior and Under 23 World Championship Trials this week on Mercer Lake, can sometimes be - well - a trial. Most boats, especially those put together following long collegiate seasons, haven't had enough time to really gel.
So the first one or two races can be a matter of "working out the kinks," as Christine Cavallo said following her heat in the U23 women's double with partner Savannah Moody.
"It was a good race, but we're just still working out the kinks along the way," said Cavallo after the crew won their heat and moved onto the Thursday final in the event. "We came together officially on Saturday, but we've been in combos with each other prior to that."
Both women are part of the under-23 women's sculling selection camp and are in competition for a seat in the quad. "We're just trying to figure out which combos work, and which combos go fast, and this is a good way to give it a full test by going down the course at race cadence for a full 2k."
The first rows experience was pretty much the same for most of the crews racing heats Tuesday in the six under 23 events leading to the Thursday finals; the winners will will compete in the World Rowing Under23 Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, later this summer.
With the obvious exception of the single scullers, nearly all of the competitors are rowing in lineups that were put together in just the past few weeks. That included the women's pair combination of Kendall Brewer and Brooke Pierson, which was uncontested and became the first women's crew named to the 2017 squad.
"It was really stiff competition out there," said Brewer, keeping the mood light. "But, really, we just rowed our own piece where we started out at a 30 for the first one thousand and then built up the rate in the second thousand to see where we could go with that."
The win meant a return to Plovdiv for Brewer, where she raced in the quad in 2015. "We're looking forward to the racing there," she said. "Plovdiv is a fun course. I really like the bridge in the middle. The course is really like a big swimming pool for rowing."
There is one more race to go for the rest of the crew raced Tuesday, and while some crews came off the water feeling good about moving forward and having a race completed - not counting the Monday time trials - some felt there is room for improvement.
"That was a really good race," said Tom Walker, who advanced to the lightweight men's pair final with partner Luke Sendelbach from Princeton National Rowing Association.
"We've really never raced in the pair together before," he said. "We did get a race two weeks ago on the Schuylkill, but that was without buoys. So it was nice to have a race on a course with buoys and to go in a straight line. We finally had some flat water and we were able to work on our base."
For lightweight men's single sculler Sam Melvin of SoCal Scullers, Tuesday's heat was just his second time racing the single, and he left feeling good about it. "That was the first actual single race I have ever done," Melvin said after advancing to the final. "It could have a gone a lot better, and it could have gone a lot worse, that's for sure."
Narragansett Boat Club women's single sculler Emily Kallfelz advanced in first from her heat by nearly 26 seconds, but her time was not close to what she needs to be competitive at a world championships.
"I was definitely trying to have a bit better time on that," Kallfelz said. "I was trying to index of off what world times splits could be. I did a workout yesterday after the race, so I'm feeling a little more tired than normal.
"Other than that, it felt pretty good," she said. "They were really nice conditions. I'm not complaining about that. Right now, I'm just trying to get some fitness back. I've been working full-time for the past month, so I haven't been training as much as I would like."
Racing is scheduled to resume tomorrow morning with under 23 reps.
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