The second 2008 National Selection Regatta (NSR #2) will be held April 25-27 at the Finn M.W. Caspersen Rowing Center on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J. The event will feature racing in the women's double sculls, men's double sculls, women's pair, men's pair, lightweight men's double sculls and lightweight men's pair.
For the women's double, men's double, women's pair and men's pair, the regatta can serve as the first step towards making the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. The winner of each event earns the right to race at either the first or second world cup regatta in May. If the crew finishes in the top four at its chosen world cup race, then it has the option of being nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team. If the crew does not finish in the top four, chooses not to race at the world cup or chooses not to accept its nomination after finishing in the top four, the event will be opened up to the second set of U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Rowing scheduled for June 9-13.
NSR #2 also serves as an opportunity for athletes to earn automatic invitations to the "big boat" selection camps for the women's eight, men's eight, men's four, lightweight men's four, women's quadruple sculls and men's quadruple sculls.
The women's double sculls event leads the way in number of entries with 22 crews scheduled to compete. The field includes 23 past senior national team members, 12 from last year's world championships squad. Ala Piotrowski (Manchester, N.H.) and Jennifer Kaido (West Leyden, N.Y.), who finished eighth in the event at the 2007 FISA World Championships in Munich, Germany, will race together this weekend. In addition, all four members of last year's women's quad also will race. Ellen Tomek (Flint, Mich.), who stroked the quad in Munich, will row with Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.). Liane Malcos (Carlisle, Mass.) is paired up with Stesha Carle (Long Beach, Calif.); Christen Brown (Tecumseh, Mich.) will row with Nicky Gavel (Dracut, Mass.); and Lia Pernell (Seattle, Wash.) will race with Lindsay Meyer (Seattle, Wash.).
Nineteen duos have entered the men's double sculls. The field includes 11 rowers from last year's world championship team. Matt Hughes (Ludington, Mich.) and Sam Stitt (McLean, Va.), who finished ninth in the event in Munich, will once again be paired together. Like the women's side, all four members of last year's men's quad also will race. Mark Flickinger (Big Flats, N.Y.), who stroked the boat, will row with Michael Perry (Ann Arbor, Mich.); Deaglan McEachern (Portsmouth, N.H.) will team up with Francis Cuddy (Amherst, N.H.); Jamie Schroeder (Wilmette, Ill.) will race with Warren Anderson (Paso Robles, Calif.); and J. Sloan DuRoss will team up with Jonathan Greer (Chester, N.H.).
The men's pair also has 19 entries including 14 from the USRowing Training Center. Seven Olympic medalists are scheduled to race including six from the 2004 Olympic gold-medal winning men's eight - Wyatt Allen (Portland, Maine), Dan Beery (Oaktown, Ind.), Matt Deakin (San Francisco, Calif.), Beau Hoopman (Plymouth, Wis.), Jason Read (Ringoes, N.J.), Bryan Volpenhein (Cincinnati, Ohio). Volpenhein and Read, who have won several national selection events as a pair in the past, will race together. Hoopman will row with three-time national team member Matt Schnobrich (St. Paul, Minn.), while Allen will row with seven-time senior national team member Dan Walsh (Norwalk, Conn.). Deakin will pair up with two-time Olympian Paul Teti (Upper Darby, Pa.), and Beery will row with Micah Boyd (St. Paul, Minn.). Beery and Boyd won the pair at NSR #1 earlier this month. Sebastian Bea (San Francisco, Calif.), a 2000 Olympic silver medalist in the event, is scheduled to race with two-time national team member Brodie Buckland (Olympia, Wash.).
In the women's pair, six boats have entered the event including five from the USRowing Training Center. Nine 2007 World Champions are currently entered in the race including Caryn Davies (Ithaca, N.Y.), Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.), Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.), Lindsay Shoop (Charlottesville, Va.), Anna Goodale (Camden, Maine), Sam Magee (Simsbury, Conn.) and Brett Sickler (Los Gatos, Calif.) from the world champion women's eight, as well as Rachel Jeffers (Los Gatos, Calif.) and Portia McGee (Seattle, Wash.) from the world champion women's four.
Six boats are entered in the lightweight men's pair. The field contains nine rowers from last year's world championships' squad including Patrick Todd (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Matt Smith (Woodbridge, Va.), who were 2004 Olympians in the lightweight men's four. Todd will be rowing with six-time national team member Mike Altman (Marin County, Calif.), while Smith is teamed up with two-time national team member John Nichols (Palo Alto, Calif.).
There also are six boats entered in the lightweight men's double sculls, with four rowers from last year's team scheduled to race. Rich Montgomery (Batavia, Ill.), who raced in the event at last year's world championships, will be rowing with three-time national team member Bjorn Larsen (Lake Stevens, Wash.).
NSR #2 racing begins on Friday, April 25, with morning time trials and afternoon heats. Semifinals and placement finals will be held on Saturday, with the top-level finals being held on Sunday morning. Racing begins each morning at 7:00.
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