The first couple crews to earn the right to wear the red white and blue in the 2017 season were named at the first National Selection Regatta (NSR) and Speed Order on Mercer Lake this morning. In the men's pair, the US Training Center pair of Andrew Reed and Jordan Vanderstoep won the men's pair, and USTC women and 2016 Olympians Megan Kalmoe and Tracy Eisser won the women's pair.
NSR winners earn the right to race in a World Cup event, where a top six finish would earn them the right to accept the spot as the USA pair for the World Championships, which will be held in Sarasota FL September 23- October 1, 2017.
Four Speed Order events were also held; results in these events have no specific consequences, but often figure extensively on partnerships for trials, invitations to camps, and more.
Men's Pair
The Training Center group switched pair matchups each week in the fall, and when it came time for Reed and Vanderstoep to pair up, the boat immediately went well, Reed said, leading to the duo winning the fall speed order.
"When we first hopped in together, it went well from the beginning," he said. "We got a chance to row together at the fall speed order, and there was a really nice rhythm."
Vanderstoep dislocated his shoulder during the winter on a fall on the ice when the team was training in Colorado, however, and was unable to race in the first speed order; Reed rowed with Bobby Moffitt, placing second.
Vanderstoep went into a cross-training mode while he recovered from a labral tear that was determined did not need surgery, returning to training five weeks ago; he and Reed began rowing the pair again about three weeks ago.
"I just stayed positive," he said of his time away from the water. "When I came back I realized I was up against some good guys in the Training Center, and it was going to take a while to get back in the rhythm. I tried not to let anything hold me back and brought everything every day, focusing on consistency and not trying to come back from an injury and say, 'Okay, even though I was out for two months, I was winning pieces in the fall and I’m going to come back and win pieces.' It’s taking little steps every day in the right direction, allowing you to build up to big events like the NSR, or the World Championships, or any big race."
Both admit that their pair was a "bit rocky" to start.
"This year I've been working on bringing my best to every session, the highest intensity that I can bring, and then when things are going well you know you’ve earned it, and if things aren’t going as well you still bring as much effort as you can," Reed said of the previous few weeks. "Then you can do each session, especially the competitive pieces, without any regrets because you know you prepared well. If you keep stringing together your best efforts, eventually it will come.
"It didn't click right away, but after we got some rows in it started going well," Vanderstoep said. "I think we peaked at the right time; we built it through this whole week and we went out and had a really good piece."
The crew is still conferring on whether they will pursue the pair further this summer (they barely had time to do so, as Vanderstoep was already in his work clothes at 8:45am, only about 35 minutes after the race, and headed immediately to his job at Blackrock Financial Management's Princeton office); they expressed some interest in racing the pair at a World Cup, but both are focused on the eight long-term.
Women's Pair
The NSR women's pair winners Megan Kalmoe and Tracy Eisser have rowed together for the past two summers – but instead of in the pair, it was in the quad, where they won the World Championships in 2015 and placed fifth in 2016 in Rio. Kalmoe notes that their shared experience probably helped them this week as well.
"We have been rotating through partners pretty regularly at the camp, but Tracy and I have rowed the pair together a bit more than most of the other combinations, and it also came together partly because of our shared experience rowing together in the quad," Kalmoe noted. "Then we were able to translate that into working together in the pairs."
While most of the US women learn both to sweep and scull, Eisser has competed internationally primarily in sculling boats, but has been a willing returnee to sweep rowing this year.
"One of the things that I set as a goal for myself this year was to work on my pair rowing," Eisser said. "Megan has a lot more pair experience, especially internationally, and I’m trying to learn as much as I can and improve both for myself and within our combination every day."
Kalmoe has been a perennial contender in the pair, and shared some of what she tries to bring to the boat.
"What I try to do during the time we have before a regatta like this is to build trust between myself and the person that I’m rowing with," she said. "Whether it is just figuring stuff out technically, or laughing and communicating and keeping things fun in the boat even when the rowing isn’t great. If we're hitting little roadblocks and can overcome them, all of that builds into a relationship that, when you are out there and trying to have your best performance, you can come back to all the things that you have gone through together, and use them to get yourself into the position that you want to be in.
"Part of that is also just lining up against your teammates and seeing what everyone is capable of, and being respectful of all their abilities all the time," Kalmoe added. "We have seen a lot of these women race really, really well, and have even raced against them in this line up. Having that trust and then also trusting and respecting the people around is really important."
Eisser said she is starting to enjoy the pair, although perhaps not quite as unequivocally as Kalmoe has expressed in the past.
"Megan always says to me, "see, rowing the pair is so easy!'" Eisser said. "I will say it's certainly a lot more fun when it goes well!"
So, I ask – can we call it a comeback?
Both laugh, and Kalmoe responds first: "I would call it a never left," she said. "I actually took the month of September off, but soon I was training again pretty seriously starting in October. I want to have a fun summer this year, so we’re going to go out and have a good racing experience and see what happens."
"Definitely for me it's a never left," Eisser agrees. "I knew that I was coming back at least for this year with the World Championships here (in the US); what a great opportunity, and I would definitely like to do that, and it was just a matter of what kind of boat I might get to race in. "I would not have guessed this (racing in the pair), but I’m really excited about it now. As this year has progressed, the more I thought about it as a really fun and great way to challenge myself, especially in the post Olympic year to learn more, to grow and challenge myself. So now that we have this opportunity I’m really excited about it."
Speed Order Events
The Men's Double was won by Luke Wilhelm and Erik Frid ahead of a field comprised entirely of teammates and river mates from the Schuylkill River
In the Women's Double, Rio silver medalist in the women's single Gevvie Stone joined with lightweight sculler Mary Jones to win the women's double; Stone's rowing career may not yet be over, but for the time being she will be occupied with her medical residency, which starts June 11
The Men's Lightweight Double was won convincingly by Christopher Lambert-Rogers and Peter Schmidt of Riverside Boat Club, who put over 20 second between them and the nearest finisher
The Women's Lightweight Double was won by Emily Schmeig and Michelle Sechser of Potomac Boat Club; Schmeig rowed in the light quad in 2016, while Sechser rowed in the light quad in 2012, the light single in 2013, and the light double in 2014 and 2015.
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