WEST WINDSOR, N.J. Finals in the men's single sculls, women's single sculls, women's double sculls, and lightweight men's double sculls were set after Thursday morning's racing at the first set of U's. Olympic Team Trials for Rowing at Lake Mercer in West Windsor, N.J.
Finals, which are a best two-out-of-three format, begin Friday at 7 a.m. with the first finals. Second finals will be held Saturday beginning at 7 a.m., with the third finals being held Sunday at 7 a.m., if necessary.
In Thursday's semifinals of the women's double sculls, the Princeton Training Center duo of Kristin Goodrich (Portola Valley, Calif.) and Dana Peirce (Richmond, Va.) and the Augusta Rowing Club tandem of Ala Piotrowski and Carol Skricki (Norwood, Mass.) crossed the finish line in first place. In the first semifinal, Piotrowski and Skricki clocked a 7:11.79 to defeat Potomac Boat Club's Katie Madigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Catherine Humblet (Cambridge, Mass.) by 5.33 seconds. Saugatuck Rowing Club's Sharon Kriz and Melissa Merritt finished third, followed by Undine Barge Club's Julia Nichols (Livermore, Calif.) and Renee Hykel (Haverford, Pa.). In the second semifinal, Goodrich and Peirce stroked a 7:11.09 to defeat PTC teammates Megan Cooke and Lia Pernell by 4.39 seconds. PTC's Laura Rauchfuss (Riverside, Conn.) and Sarah Jones (Stanwood, Wash.) finished third, followed by Heather Wakeley and Jessica Archibald. The top two finishers from each semifinal advanced to Friday's first final.
The duo of Steve Tucker (Mooresville, Ind.) and Greg Ruckman (Cincinnati, Ohio), who were both members of the 2000 Olympic Team, easily won the first semifinal of the lightweight men's double sculls. Tucker and Ruckman stroked a 6:38.96 to defeat MLARC/NYAC's John Cashman (Sausalito, Calif.) and Tom Paradiso (Blue Bell, Pa.) by 6.63 seconds. Rollins/Augusta Rowing Club's Stephen Arthur-Wong (Orlando, Fla.) and John Kennel finished third, followed by MLARC/NYAC's Chris Greenleaf and Bill Fedyna (Maple Glen, Pa.). In the second semifinal, the Augusta Rowing Club duo of Michael Aller (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Shawn Stephenson (Raleigh, N.C.) clocked a 6:38.17 to defeat MLARC/NYAC's Gabe Winkler (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) and Rich Montgomery by 1.22 seconds. Augusta's Tim Larson (North Augusta, S.C.) and Gavin Frase finished third, followed by Lake Washington Rowing Club's Tyler Peterson and Evan Jacobs. Like the women's double sculls, the top two finishers from each semifinal advanced to Friday's first final.
In the two repechages, or second-chance races, of the men's single sculls, Ken Jurkowski and Adam Holland (Philadelphia, Pa.) won to advance to the finals. Jurkowski, rowing for Saugatuck Rowing Club, came home in a time of 7:36.84 to finish 10.88 seconds ahead of Pocock Rowing Center's Todd Beyreuther. Augusta Rowing Club's Toby Johnson finished third. Rowing for Harvard University Boat Club, Holland clocked a 7:29.56 to win the second repechage by 8.12 seconds over Jonathan Burns. Ann Arbor Rowing Club's Mike Perry (Ann Arbor, Mich.) finished third. Jurkowski and Holland join heat winners Xeno Müller, a two-time Olympic medalist in the event for Switzerland who earned his U's. citizenship earlier this year, and Pocock Rowing Center's Conal Groom (Northford, Conn.), a 2000 Olympian in the lightweight men's double sculls, in the first final.
In the repechage of the women's single sculls, Pocock Rowing Center's Anne Browning and Pocock Rowing Center/Riverside Boat Club's Ann Holmes advanced to the first final. Browning clocked an 8:11.80 to finish 1.26 seconds ahead of Holmes. Augusta Rowing Club's Beth Greene finished third in a time of 8:14.03. Browning and Holmes join 1996 Olympian Jennifer Devine (Portland, Ore.) and Augusta Rowing Club's Cindy Bishop (Atlanta, Ga.), who won a bronze medal in the event at the 2003 Pan American Games, in the first final.
While four boat classes are being contested in the first set of trials, the winners will still have some work to do in order to qualify for the Olympic Games. In these four events, the U's. did not earn automatic qualification slots for the Olympics at the 2003 World Championships. Therefore, the winners of the trials will have to qualify for the Games at the Olympic Qualification Regatta June 13-16 in Lucerne, Switzerland.