Racing had only been over for about an hour and US national team high performance director Matt Imes was already fielding dozens of questions from both athletes and coaches about what the next steps would be in the already busy national team selection process.
Usually, with the finish of a National Selection Regatta, the winning crews take a few days to begin making plans to head to Europe, and a World Cup, stop in an attempt to secure a spot on the US national team that will race in the summer's World Championships.
But this year, even as oars were being hung up, and official results were being stapled to the cork board leaning against the wall at the Caspersen Rowing Center on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, NJ, plans were being quickly finalized. The first World Cup takes place in Belgrade, Serbia in two weeks, and crews are leaving in the next few days.
Some, like Kara Kohler and Felice Mueller, already had their plans set. The winners of the women's double final of the speed order portion of NSR II, decided they would head to Belgrade weeks ago, after they raced the single final of NSR 1.
But not Mary Jones Nabel and Emily Schmieg, who won the women's lightweight double, which was one of the five official selection events contested. They knew what they wanted to do, but they had to finish first in their final before securing the opportunity to represent the US in Belgrade, and with a top performance, nailing a spot on the 2018 US team.
"We have the chance to go to World Cup now, and try to qualify for the World Championship," Nabel said. "We're going to head right over, so we leave for Europe a week from tomorrow to race in Serbia."
Nabel and Schmieg have only been an official crew for a few weeks, coming together after the lightweight singles racing at NSR I, and a small, unofficial selection camp in Boston.
Nabel won the NSR 1 lightweight singles event, but since only the lightweight double is part of the Olympic program, she is focusing on the double with Schmieg in the hopes of rowing in the Tokyo Games more than a full two years away.
So, Belgrade and the first World Cup is the first step in that process.
"Everything is about development and training for Tokyo, and there are some big steps along the way," Nabel said. "Qualification is next year, so part of our plan for this year is to race the qualification course as a practice run in Linz, Austria."
Austria is the venue for World Cup II and next year's World Championships and the Olympic qualification. But, that is getting a bit further ahead than the finish of NSR II.
Still, the coming World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and the developing 2020 quadrennial, was exactly what most of the athletes were talking about Saturday evening.
There were plenty of comments about how the individual races went, but most talk was about the various national team selection camps, summer trials and World Cups.
Of the eight women's pairs and four men's pair crews that raced in the first and second level finals, only two were not part of the national team training center crews. And while the winners in those events can race for an automatic spot to the national team, they are talking about selection camp and other crews for the moment.
"Not everyone (from the Princeton women's training center) was able to participate in this regatta," said Tracy Eisser, who won the women's pair with Erin Reelick.
Eisser had been scheduled to race with Megan Kalmoe, who did not race. Eisser said that she and Reelick will stay back in the US and continue training at the women's training center and selection camp.
"We had a couple of people who are out with injury right now, and so I think that there are more people who are going to be in contention for spots on the team," Eisser said. "I think that we were all approaching this regatta as a step toward the summer, trying to figure out where you might want to race, where you stand on the team.
"Erin and I raced together last year at World Cup in Poland, when Megan Kalmoe was sick," Eisser said of this week's pairing. "Erin jumped in the heat and did an excellent job.
"We have not raced together since," she said. "I've been rowing around with a lot with Kalmoe. But she is rehabbing some stuff right now, so Erin and I jumped into the pair earlier in the week.
"I wouldn't say I was satisfied (with the result)," Eisser said of Saturday's racing. "I'm happy with the outcome, but we have a lot more work to do to be where we would like to be."
In the men's pairs, the top three crews are all made up of athletes from the new USRowing men's Oakland, California training center that has been together since the start of the year.
"We had a pretty sharp start," said Mike DiSanto, who won the men's pair with partner Andrew Reed. "We were able to get off the line well, and settle well, and I think we got most of our margin in the first 750, and then settled into our rhythm.
"I think Andrew and I are pretty focused on trying to make it into the eight and helping the eight win. We've got a very deep team, and there are a lot of really good pairs that weren't here because they couldn't make it work with their schedules. So, we're just fortunate to make the most of an opportunity now," he said.
"Hopefully there are a lot of good things to come this summer. But, it was good to line up side by side. We do a lot of racing (in Oakland) but all of it is head style, so it is good to have boats next to you to have a start and see exactly where you are with other boats," DiSanto said.
Of the crews that raced in either NSR I or NSR II's five official selection events, seven crews are going to race in the coming Belgrade World Cup, including Kohler and Mueller.
Both are planning to race in the singles event. Kohler won the women's selection event at NSR 1 and could qualify for the 2018 team with a top performance - top 50 percent of the field based on the number of entries.
But, both Kohler and Mueller are keeping the option open to race the double at trials later in the year.
"We're going to hop back in the singles and train a full week here, and then we are both going to race at World Cup I in Serbia," Kohler said. "It will be fun to be back in the single."
"We're not sure yet," she said when asked about accepting a qualification bid to race the single at World Championships. "We want to see how we do in the single internationally this year.
"It will be my first time racing in the single internationally, so it will be fun. But I don't know, maybe we'll get back in the double. That's undecided," Kohler said.
Of the crews racing in the men's double, because it was a speed order event, a win does not come with an opportunity for automatic selection through World Cup competition, but it is a step in the selection of the men's quad for trials.
Many of the crews entered in the men's double are based in Philadelphia and are part of the Schuylkill Navy high performance group that will via for selection to the men's quad. Justin Keen and Erik Frid of Penn AC won their event.
"This is a big part of quad selection," said Keen. "We've been trying out different doubles for a couple of weeks and Frid, and I got into a boat a week or two ago, and we're just getting better every practice, getting better every race.
"The first two races, time wise, were pretty fast, but we didn't feel like we quite clicked," he said. "So, we took a day off, rested up the legs and came out here, and in the second thousand we went for it.
"We're taking a quad to World Cup II, so we will do selection in the next couple of weeks in Philly with the top two boats here today, and a couple of other guys based on NSR I results. We'll pick the lineup and then train over in Europe and see how it goes and come back and get ready for trials."
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