U.S. Women's Eight Named U.S. Olympic Committee's September Team of the Month
October 09, 2013
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The 2013 U.S. women's eight was selected as the U.S. Olympic Committee's Team of the Month for September, the organization announced on Wednesday.
Coming off of a gold-medal performance at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the U.S. crew began the new quadrennial with a gold medal and new world best time at the 2013 World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, and culminated the season with an eighth-consecutive world title at the 2013 World Rowing Championships in Chungju, South Korea last month.
The women's eight of coxswain Katelin Snyder (Detroit, Mich.), Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.), Vicky Opitz (Middleton, Wis.), Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.), Grace Luczak (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Lauren Schmetterling (Moorestown, N.J.), Emily Regan (Buffalo, N.Y.), Kerry Simmonds (San Diego, Calif.) and Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was reconfigured just days before competition due to the injury of stroke-seat Heidi Robbins (Hanover, N.H.).
In the final, the U.S. took the lead 250 meters into the race and crossed the finish line in 6:02.14 - nearly five seconds ahead of second-place Romania.
"I am so grateful and proud to have had the opportunity to represent my country this summer," said Snyder. "Standing on the podium, listening to our national anthem was so surreal and rewarding. We have an incredible team of relentless women, and our greatest success was being able to throw down a gutsy performance for each other."
In addition, Paratriathlete Megan Fisher (Seattle, Wash.) and wrestler Jordan Burroughs (Sicklerville, N.J.) earned USOC Athlete of the Month recognition.
Each National Governing Body nominated one female, one male and one team per discipline. A voting panel selected the winners from the pool of nominees with online fan voting via Twitter accounting for 10 percent of the total vote.
For more information, please contact the USOC Communications Division at (719) 866-4529 or visit www.teamusa.org.
FEMALE 1. Megan Fisher, Paratriathlon 2. Serena Williams, Tennis 3. Adeline Gray, Wrestling
MALE 1. Jordan Burroughs, Wrestling 2. Aaron Scheidies, Paratriathlon 3. Connor Fields, Cycling
TEAM 1. U.S. Women's Eight, Rowing 2. U.S. Women's National Team, Volleyball 3. U.S. 18U National Team, Baseball