WEST WINDSOR, N.J. - With wind and rain threatening to stop racing, nine crews earned the right to represent the United States at the 2010 World Rowing Championships at the 2010 World Championship Trials this morning at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J.
Ursula Grobler (Pretoria, South Africa) moved one race closer to rowing three events in the same world championships by winning in the lightweight women's quad, but failed to lock down her bid in the single when she was defeated by Vesper Boat Club's Julie Nichols (Livermore, Calif.).
Grobler, who defeated Nichols in the first final Thursday, held a slight lead in the opening 500 meters but Nichols caught her and stayed in control through the next 1,500 meters, finishing ahead of Grobler with a time of 7:55.475 over Grobler's time of 7:58.183.
The two will face off for the final time in the best-of-three format tomorrow morning, along with the women's single and men's pair with coxswain.
Having already qualified to row the lightweight women's double with teammate Abby Broughton (Tetonia, Idaho), Grobler and Broughton, with boatmates Kristin Hedstrom (Concord, Mass.) and Victoria Burke (Redding, Conn.), won the lightweight quadruple sculls by nearly three seconds over the crew of Michelle Trannel (East Dubuque, Ill.), Hillary Saeger (Dedham, Mass.), Katherine Robinson (Everett, Wash.) and Lindsey Hochman (Seattle, Wash.).
Hedstrom caught a crab in the third 500, but the crew did not stop rowing and regained their lead and stayed ahead.
In one of the tightest races of the morning, Lindsay Meyer (Seattle, Wash.), who finished second to Cambridge Boat Clubs' Genevra Stone (Newton, Mass.) in Thursday's first final, forced their showdown by overcoming a lead Stone held for the first 1,000 meters. Meyer closed in the third 500 and then pulled ahead with 750 to go, finishing almost 10 seconds ahead of Stone in 7:41.607.
In the men's pair with coxswain, USRowing Training Center-Oklahoma City's Steve Young (Tampa, Fla.), Nareg Guregian (North Hills, Calif.) and Justin Stangel (Madison, Wis.) forced a third final by rowing through the team of Marcus McElhenney (Lansdowne, Pa.), Steve Kasprzyk (Cinnaminson, N.J.) and Troy Kepper in the final meters to win by a hair with a time of 7:08.481 over the New York Athletic Club/Penn AC boat's 7:08.747.
Closing out his bid to race the men's single at world championships, 2008 Olympian Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) took control of the race from the start and held a five-second lead going into the second thousand over Craftsbury Sculling Center's Thomas Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio). Graves pushed to close the gap in the second half, but Jurkowski stayed ahead and crossed the line in 7:02:115 with Graves finishing in 7:04.103.
USTC-OKC's Ryan Monaghan (Rochester, N.Y.) and Deaglan McEachern (Portsmouth, N.H.) closed the door on teammates Grant and Ross James (DeKalb, Ill.) from the start to win the second final and earn the right to row at worlds in the men's pair with a winning time of 6:35.630.
In the lightweight men's single, Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg (Philadelphia, Pa.), a two-time national team member, rowed in front of two-time Olympian Greg Ruckman (Cincinnati, Ohio) from the start. Half-way through the race, Urevick-Acklsberg had a boat length lead and just kept inching away, finishing 12 seconds over Ruckman in a time of 7:10.330.
The Malta BC/Penn AC pair of Mike Nucci (Blue Bell, Pa.) and Evan Tsourtsoulas (Kastoria, Greece) won the second final of the lightweight men's pair by just about five seconds over Riverside Boat Club's Andrew Diebold (North Wales, Pa.) and Greg McKallagat (Andover, Mass.) with a time of 6:49.025.
The lightweight men's quadruple sculls quartet of Matt Carey (West Simsbury, Conn.), Todd Mickelson (Woodinville, Wash.), Peter Morelli (Cambridge, Mass.) and Brian Tryon (Indianapolis, Ind.) won their second final with a time of 6:26.598.
In addition to second finals in today's events, Friday's racing included uncontested finals in the women's pair, women's four, and lightweight men's eight.
Rowing in the women's pair were the defending world champions, Erin Cafaro (Modesto, Calif.) and Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.). The women's four included Ali Cox (Turlock, Calif.), Grace Luczak (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Adrienne Martelli (University Place, Wash.) and Mara Allen (San Francisco, Calif.), while the lightweight men's eight included coxswain Stephen Young (Tampa, Fla.), Jim Sopko (Mathews, Va.), John 'Skip' Dise (Beverly Hills, Mich.), Matt Kochem (Burnt Hills, N.Y.), Kenny McMahon (Ladysmith, Wis.), Michael Kerrigan (Charlottesville, Va.), Julian Bowling (Shelby, N.C.), Robert Duff (Huntingdon Valley, Pa.),and Matthew Muffelman, (Mathews, Va.).