Gevvie Stone stood looking over the list of names of the women she will be racing tomorrow morning in her first run down the course on Lake Varese in the 2015 World Rowing Cup 2.
The official draw sheet had only been out a few minutes and Stone of Newton, Mass., saw that she will be racing Switzerland's Pascale Walker, Canada's Carling Zeeman, Tala Abujbara from Qatar and China's Jingli Duan, with the top three crews advancing to the semifinal.
Duan was third in the 2014 world championships and Zeeman has twice medaled in the single in the under 23 world championships. But Stone, who finished seventh in the event at the 2012 Olympics and ninth last year, expected fierce competition long before she got here.
"I'm ready to go,"쳌 she said. "It's a new season. I've changed a bunch of things from last year and I've been training full time. But it's going be a tough competition the whole way across. There are twenty-two entries and a lot of fast women. There are a bunch of fast women in every heat."쳌
Seventeen crews will represent the U.S. this week and 15 will begin racing tomorrow. There were to be 18, but the lightweight women's double sculls entry of Vesper Boat Club's Michelle Sechser (Folsom, Calif.) and Devery Karz (Park City, Utah.) withdrew due to injury.
The racing will start for the U.S. in the second of three heats of the women's pairs. The U.S. has two crews in the event. Racing first is USA1 with United States Training Center - Princeton's Londoon Olympian Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) and Felice Mueller (Cleveland, Ohio). They will face Great Britain2, Italy2, New Zealand and Poland.
USA1 should be favored in this heat with an Olympic gold medalists and multiple world champion in Logan, and Mueller who won a bronze at the 2014 worlds in the quadruple sculls. Logan and Mueller also won their national selection regatta event and could qualify for a nomination to the 2015 world championship team with a top seven finish. Three advance to the semifinal.
USA2 with Kerry Simmonds (San Diego, Calif.) and Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) will follow in the third heat, facing China1, Denmark, Germany2 and Australia. They should also advance to the semifinal having won a silver medal at the 2014 world championships.
In the men's pair, USTC - Princeton's Ross James (DeKalb, Ill.) and Dariush Aghai (Skokie, Ill.) will row the first of three heats, facing Switzerland, Australia, Italy1 and Great Britian2. Ross is a seasoned senior team athlete and finished fourth in the eight at the 2012 London Olympics. This is Aghai's first senior team. Three boats advance to the semifinal.
The men's quadruple sculls crew from the California Boat Club of of Hans Struzyna (Seattle, Wash.), John Madura (West Milford, N.J.), Ryan Shelton (Wrightwood, Calif.) and Paul Marcy (Guilford, Vermont), row in the first of two heats against Australia, Germany1, Norway, Poland and New Zealand. Germany has entered two crews in this event and is expecting to get to the podium. Only one crew will advance to the final.
The U.S. has two crews rowing in the men's double sculls with USA2 rowing in the first of four heats. The crew of of Derek Johnson (Hillsborough, Calif.) and Ian Silveira (West Bloomfield, Mich.) from the California Rowing Club face Azerbaijan, Argentina, Hungary, and Croatia. This is a tough field and the Sinkovic brothers Martin and Valent of Croatia are the world champions and world best time holders. Two boats advance to the semifinal.
The USA1 crew of Craftsbury Sculling Center's Benjamin Dann (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) and John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) are the NSR1 winners in the event and face Italy1, China, Italy2 and Bulgaria in the third heat. Dann and Graves can earn a national team nomination with a top seven finish.
In the women's double sculls, United States Training Center - Oklahoma City's Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.) and Meghan O'Leary (Baton Rouge, La.) are racing in the third of three heats and see Belarus, Argentina, Sweden, and New Zealand. This is the third season in this boat class for Tomek and O'Leary, who won silver in last year's world cup 2, won their NSR event and could earn a nomination to the 2015 team with a top seven finish.
New Zealand is the reigning world champions, but they are racing a different combination. Two boats advance from the heats.
Two U.S. men's single scullers are entered into the competition with USA2 Yohann Rigogne (Besançon, France) racing the sixth heat against Italy2, Sweden, Italy1, and Norway. Rigogne represented the U.S. in the event at world championships last year and finished 25th. Four boats advance to the quarterfinals and Norway's two-time Olympic champion Olaf Tufte is sure to be one of them.
In the sixth heat is NSR winner Craftsbury Sculling Center's William Cowles (Farmington, Conn.). He faces Cuba, Isreal2, Peru, and Germany1. Cuba's Angel Fournier Rodriquez was fourth in the 2014 world championships. Cowles is seeking a top seven finish and a nomination to the 2015 senior team.
Next up for the U.S. is the lightweight men's double sculls team from the Cambridge Boat Club of Joshua Konieczny (Millbury, Ohio) and Andrew Campbell, Jr. (New Canaan, Conn.). They are racing Poland2, New Zealand, Great Britian1 and Japan2. New Zealand's Peter Taylor won two world championships in the lightweight men's four and a bronze medal in the lightweight double at the London Olympics in 2012.
Campbell has won consecutive under 23 titles in the lightweight men's single and Konieczny finished 10th in the event at last summer's world championships. Only one boat will advance to the semifinal.
The U.S. men's four won silver at last year's world championship, but come to Italy with a new lineup of USTC -" Princeton's Seth Weil (Menlo Park, Calif.), Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.) and Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.). They have a great chance of being the single boat to advance directly into the final. Rummel, Cole and Ochal won a bronze medal together in the event in London. The British are the reigning world champions but also have a new crew that won the European championships just a few weeks ago.
In the women's quadruple sculls, the USTC - Princeton'ss lineup of Adrienne Martelli (University Place, Wash.), Amanda Elmore (West Lafayette, Ind.), Tracy Eisser (Fair Lawn, N.J.) and Grace Latz (Jackson, Mich.) are racing Australia, China1, Germany2 and Great Britain in the second of two heats. Martelli won a bronze medal in the quad at the 2012 Olympics and Eisser and Latz were in the quad that took bronze at the 2014 worlds. Two crews advance to the final.
The U.S. women's eight USTC - Princeton's crew of coxswain Katelin Snyder (Detroit, Mich.), Heidi Robbins (Hanover, N.H.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Olivia Coffey (Watkins Glen, N.Y.), Emily Regan (Buffalo, N.Y.), Lauren Schmetterling (Moorestown, N.J.), Tessa Gobbo (Chesterfield, N.H.), Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.) and Victoria Opitz (Middleton, Wis.) are the favorites in their event. Ten consecutive championships will earn that kind of respect. They race New Zealand, Great Britain and Australia in the first of two heats with one boat advancing to the final.
In the men's eight, a new look lineup from last year of USTC - Princeton's coxsswain Sam Ojserkis (Linwood, N.J.), Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn.), Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.), Matt Miller (Fairfax, Va.), Sam Dommer (Folsom, Calif.), Tom Dethlefs (Lawrenceville, N.J.), Alex Karwoski (Hollis, N.H.), Michael Gennaro (Havertown, Pa.) and Rob Munn (Redmond, Wash.) will take on Italy2, France, New Zealand and Germany1 in the first of two heats with two boats advancing. The U.S. finished fourth at the 2014 world championships. Germany was second.
"I'm anxious to get it going. It's the first race of the season after a long year of training,"쳌 said men's coach Luke McGee. "So, we'll see what we've got in the heats and then go to work in the next race. It will be a good first start."쳌
For more information on World Cup 2, go here.
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