Racing continued Friday, July 16 with heats and semifinals at the 2010 USRowing Club National Championships on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Sixty-eight national titles will be awarded Saturday, July 17 and Sunday, July 18.
In the men's senior four with coxswain, the top two boats from three heats advanced to Saturday's final. In the first heat, Oklahoma City Riversport took the lead off the start. "We got out in front and controlled the race the best we could," said Bronson Shafer, the stroke. Oklahoma City crossed the line first in a 6:53.49, followed by Penn A.C. Rowing Association in a 6:57.86. "We had been practicing for a couple weeks and it felt really good at home. We got here and just laid down the best start we could," continued Shafer. Yesterday, Shafer competed in the men's senior pair, where he crossed the line second, qualifying him for the semifinals.
In the third heat of the men's senior four with coxswain, Wisconsin Men's USRowing Development Camp won in a 6:55.35, followed by New York Athletic Club in a 7:00.01. "We didn't sprint or anything, we just wanted to win the heat," said coxswain Michael Patinkin. "We wanted to take control off the start. We were down a little bit, but came back by the five hundred. We stayed up and did what we needed to do." The Wisconsin crew consisted of Patinkin, James Hadar, Mike Kaufman, Luke Jucket and Daniel Gengler. Vesper Boat Club and Penn A.C. qualified for Saturday's final from the second heat.
In the women's senior pair, the top three boats of two heats advanced to the finals, with Washington Women's USRowing Development Camp dominating the field. In the first heat, Washington's Victoria Nenchev and Adriene DeLeuw won in an 8:10.74, while Washington's Madison Culp and Schuyler Pearman-Gilman followed in an 8:14.03. Penn A.C. crossed third in an 8:32.45.
In the second heat, Washington's Ailish O'Sullivan and Erin Lauber competed together for the first time in a pair and won their heat. Washington won by more than five seconds in an 8:25.49, followed by the Wisconsin Women's USRowing Development Camp in an 8:30.78. "We haven't been in a pair that long, so we've just been using it as a learning experience, adjusting to steering and communicating," said Lauber. Despite their inexperience, the two are also racing together in Saturday's women's intermediate pair semifinals.
Racing continues Saturday at 8:46 a.m. with semifinals of the men's open single sculls dash (rescheduled from Friday evening.) For complete race results, visit http://www.racetrak.com/.
Watch a live stream broadcast of finals on Saturday, July 17 from 1-5 p.m., and Sunday, July 18 from 9-1 p.m. on the Team USA Rowing Channel at http://rowing.teamusa.org/live.To purchase video clips after the event, visit http://www.usrowing.org/News_Media/DownloadVideo/index.aspx.