VARESE, Italy - Gevvie Stone had not been off the water for more than a minute when she started looking for her father, Gregg.
Stone who finished seventh in the London Olympics and ninth last year at the world championships has been gradually picking her way up the ladder of elite women single scullers and Sunday she won a silver medal at World Cup 2.
It was her first big international medal and she wanted to give it to her dad, who also serves as her coach. "I can't think of a better father's day present for my dad," Stone said. "Both my parents have been amazing, but my dad's my coach and has been with me through this whole thing and this was just the best gift I could give him today."
Father and daughter were finally united following the medals presentations and Stone immediately handed him her medal, gave him a big hug and said "Happy Father's day."
There were a lot of happy dads in the stands and back home in the United States. The U.S. rowed in 10 finals Sunday on Lake Varese and delivered big, taking gold medals in the men's four, the women's four and the women's eight, silver in the women's single, the women's double and women's pair and bronze in the women's quadruple sculls and men's eight.
And considering the amount of adversity the women's team had to deal with this week, with injuries and a virus that incapacitated two athletes that resulted in multiple lineup changes and the withdrawal of one of two women's fours they had planned to race, the results were a testament to the resiliency and depth of the women's team.
"We train all year for this," said Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) who finished fourth in a pair in the early afternoon and then jumped into the eight to replace Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.) who fell ill Saturday evening and could not race.
"We make it hard in practice so that race day anyone can row anywhere in any boat," Logan said.
"With injuries and illnesses our expectations don't change," said head women's coach, Tom Terhaar. "We have very good athletes and I was hoping we would come away with medals in all the events. It was a good testament of work we have done so far."
The women's four entry of the United States Training Center - Princeton's Olivia Coffey (Watkins Glen, N.Y.), Emily Regan (Buffalo, N.Y.), Lauren Schmetterling (Moorestown, N.J.) with Grace Luczak (Ann Arbor, Mich.) rowing in bow in place of Victoria Opitz (Middleton, Wis.), was the first crew to win gold.
Leading from the start, USA2 easily won in a time of 6:27.41. Australia was second in 6:33.49 and Germany was third in 6:39.08. "I've been jumping around a bit," said Luczak, who was originally scheduled to row in the quad but was switched to the eight when Opitz became sick and then doubled up in the four to replace Polk, when she got sick.
"Our team is really good at dealing with adversity and making things work," Luczak said. "During our training we switch back and fourth between sculling and sweep. There are situations where you need to do this."
Next to the podium was the USTC - Princeton's women's pair entry of USA2 with Kerry Simmonds (San Diego, Calif.) and Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.). Racing in the same final with USTC - Princeton's USA1 entry with Logan and Felice Mueller (Cleveland, Ohio), Kalmoe and Simmonds were in fourth in the first half of the race, trailing Great Britain and New Zealand.
But through the second half, they walked through New Zealand into second and started chasing the reigning world and Olympic champions, Britain's Helen Glover and Heather Stanning.
They got close but did not overtake the lead and finished in second in 6:55.33. Great Britain won in 6:53. 67 and New Zealand was third in 6:58.06. Logan and Mueller finished fourth in 7:00.99. Kalmoe and Simmonds finished second to Glover and Stanning at last year's world championships.
"We've been racing this GB pair for a year, which has been really fun because they are really good at what they do," said Kalmoe. "They are a great benchmark for the sport, for this event in particular. Having them push the speed in this event has been awesome. We've definitely gained a lot having them to chase."
The second gold medal of the day came from the men's four crew of USTC - Princeton's Seth Weil (Menlo Park, Calif.), Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.) and Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.).
Leading from the start, the U.S. had to fight the entire length of the race with Italy and Canada pushing hard to get past them. The U.S. held ground and won in 5:51.87. Italy was second in 5:52.48 and Canada was third in 5:52.52.
"That was fantastic," said Ochal, who won a bronze medal in the event in London 2012 with Rummel and Cole. "We put this four together hoping that it would have some good speed and this was our first test and it went pretty well. We established the race at the beginning. We got our bow out front and made sure that we rowed our race."
Right behind them to the medals was the women's quadruple sculls crew of USTC - Princeton's Adrienne Martelli (University Place, Wash.), Amanda Elmore (West Lafayette, Ind.), Tracy Eisser (Fair Lawn, N.J.) and Grace Latz (Jackson, Mich.).
Off the line the U.S. women were in fourth place but fought their way into third and held off China to finish with the bronze medal in 6:17.42. Germany won in 6:14.46 and Poland was second in 6:17.25.
"It was pretty crazy. There were a lot of fast boats," said Elmore. "It went by in a blur but we raced really hard and it was fun."
Probably one of the tightest races of the day came in the women's double. The USTC - Oklahoma double of Meghan O'Leary (Baton Rouge, La.) and Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.) have been moving fast all through the regatta, but have been beaten on the line consistently, only to remain calm and push though. It was not different Sunday.
They were in sixth at the five hundred, fourth at the thousand, but in second crossing into the last quarter and for a moment they had the lead before being passed by New Zealand. They were never really off the mark. None of the six crews were. For the length of the course the six crews raced side-by-side, trading positions.
New Zealand won in 6:53.21. O'Leary and Tomek, who have been racing together for three seasons now, were second in 6:53.35 and Great Britain was third in 6:55.67.
"That might have been the tightest race I have ever been in," said Tomek. "It was really fun. Being in stroke, I can't see everything like Meghan can. But everyone was right there and I knew it without even looking.
"We knew we just had to stay in a good rhythm and stay relaxed and once we crossed the seven-fifty we went, and unfortunately, it was probably a little bit to soon because I had nothing left in the last ten strokes and New Zealand just nipped us," she said.
The women's eight was the next race. The USTC - Princeton's crew of coxswain Katelin Snyder (Detroit, Mich.), Robbins, Logan, Coffey, Regan, Schmetterling, Gobbo, Musnicki and Luczak, got out in front from the start, but were pushed hard by Canada and Great Britain.
In the end, the U.S., which has dominated the event the last ten seasons, won again, this time in 6:03.27. Canada was second in 6:05.53 and Great Britain was third in 6:08.66.
"It went really well," said Synder. "We executed our plan. We learned a lot from the heat and we were able to capitalize on what we learned, made some changes and we feel really good about how we executed."
Stone's race was right behind them. Australia's Kim Crow was favored and she finished way ahead of the field in 7:20.10. But Stone was never out of medal contention, rowing in third until moving into second halfway down the course. She finished in 7:29.16 and Austria's Magdalena Lobnig finished third in 7:31.16.
As is often the case in international regattas, the men's eight event closes the day's racing. The USTC - Princeton crew 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.) started fast and jumped into second place. But they were reeled in by the pack and were in fourth crossing into the last five hundred. However, after making a push they rowed past New Zealand and took the bronze.
Great Britain won in 5:26.93. Germany was second in 5:27.28 and the U.S. was third in 5:29.38.
"I thought it was good," said men's coach Luke McGee. "They did what I asked them to do, which was start a little faster in the first five hundred. They probably paid for it a bit there in the middle, but they showed some pretty good resiliency in the last quarter of the race and fought back through that New Zealand crew, which is a good young crew.
"There is definitely some good stuff to work with and we're pleased. Overall it was a good regatta. It's always nice to win but they did a great job. So it's back home for two more months and then the world championships."
Earlier in the day the men's pair of USTC - Princeton's Ross James (DeKalb, Ill.) and Dariush Aghai (Skokie, Ill.) rowed in their A final from sixth place to fifth stayed there crossing in 6:29.50. The Netherlands won in 6:22.40. Italy was second in 6:23.58 and Australia was third in 6:25.87.
In the lightweight men's double sculls, Cambridge Boat Club's of Joshua Konieczny (Millbury, Ohio) and Andrew Campbell, Jr. (New Canaan, Conn.) finished just out of the medals in fourth in 6:14.78. France won in 6:09.26, Italy was second in 6:11.75 and Great Britain was third in 6:13.53.
Before the A finals began, three U.S. crews raced in the B finals. First up was the California Rowing Club men's quad of Hans Struzyna (Seattle, Wash.), John Madura (West Milford, N.J.), Ryan Shelton (Wrightwood, Calif.) and Paul Marcy (Guilford, Vermont). They finished sixth for a 12th place overall result.
Following them was the Craftsbury Sculling Center's men's double sculls entry of Benjamin Dann (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) and John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio), who were rowing as USA1. They finished fifth for a 11th place overall result.
In the last B final Craftsbury Sculling Center's men's single sculler William Cowles (Farmington, Conn.). Cowels crossed the line in fifth for an 11th place finish.