U.S. Wins Four Medals at Lucerne World Cup

July 10, 2011

LUCERNE, Switzerland – United States crews brought home four medals – one gold and three bronze – to cap off the final day of racing at the 2011 Samsung World Cup 3. After a weekend of heavy rain, Sunday’s mostly blue skies reflected off the glacial waters of the Rotsee, as crews gave it their all in preparation for the upcoming 2011 World Rowing Championships next month.

Women’s Eight: Gold
Fresh off its Remenham Challenge Cup win at the Henley Royal Regatta, the five-time defending world and Beijing champion women’s eight came from behind to edge out Canada for the gold medal.

The lineup featured a crew racing together in its second international event of the year – coxswain Mary Whipple (Orangevale, Calif.), Kady Glessner (Seattle, Wash.), Jamie Redman (Spokane, Wash.), Caryn Davies (Ithaca, N.Y.), Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif.), Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine), Ali Cox (Turlock, Calif.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Erin Cafaro (Modesto, Calif.).

“It was really exciting,” said Glessner, who stroked the women’s eight to a gold medal at last year’s world championships. “It was kind of like last year with Canada; we were neck-at-neck with them. We knew we could do it. It was just a matter of getting our blades in and getting the push together.”

It was a race that kept the crowd at the finish line on the edge of its seat from beginning to end. The Canadian crew led from the starting blocks and held the first-place position straight through the 1,500-meter mark. The United States was in third with 500 meters down, but picked off the Dutch crew before the halfway point. With 500 meters to go, the U.S. was down 1.81 seconds.

“Mary told us it was close,” said Glessner. “We knew that if we stuck to our rhythm and our race plan that we could definitely have the fastest boat out there. It was really a matter of cuing in on Mary and listening to her.

Coming into the last hundred meters, the U.S. led the charge, posting a 6:28.35 at the line to Canada’s 6:29.41. The Netherlands grabbed the bronze medal with a time of 6:31.73, followed by Great Britain’s 6:33.34, Romania in 6:37.57 and Germany in 6:38.81.

Three members of the crew – Whipple, Davies and Cox – return from the U.S. women’s eight that won silver at the Olympic Games in Athens. For Cox, being back in the mix is “absolutely thrilling.”

“I’m just so proud of the status of our team and how well prepared we are with great coaching and USRowing’s preparation help,” said Cox. “It’s an exciting time to be on the team. I’m really glad I made the commitment to come out of retirement after six years.”

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls: Bronze
Julie Nichols (Livermore, Calif.) and Kristin Hedstrom (Concord, Mass.) started the weekend by winning the heat and semifinal of the lightweight women’s double leading up to the finals race. The crew ended the weekend with a bronze medal and a historical moment for the United States.

Having won bronze and gold at the first two world cup stops in Munich and Hamburg, Nichols and Hedstrom became the first U.S. crew to win a points trophy. An honor awarded to the crew in each event that accumulates the most points racing in the World Cup series, the U.S. crew tallied 18 total points.

In Sunday’s final, the U.S. exploded off the start, crossing the first 500-meter mark in first with Canada’s Lindsay Jennerich and Tracy Cameron in second. By the halfway mark, the Canadians and Great Britain’s Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking were one-two, which remained the order of crews going into the sprint.

Canada crossed first to win gold in 7:01.71, while Great Britain’s 7:03.81 was good enough for silver. Hedstrom and Nichols were one second back at the line in a 7:04.81.

“It was such a close race all the way down the course,” said Hedstrom “It was fun to be right with Great Britain. Obviously, they nicked us in the end, but it was a great race. There were several times in the race when I looked across and just saw three boats lined up.”

Greece crossed the line fourth in 7:08.96, followed by Australia’s 7:09.44 and Italy’s 7:14.74.

“It gives us something to focus on as we prepare for Bled,” said Nichols. “We’re looking forward to getting a chance to race them all again. We’re excited about where we are, but excited for what’s to come.”

Women’s Pair: Bronze
The U.S. went three-four in the final of the women’s pair. With a heat win and a second-place finish in the semifinal en route to the medal race, Taylor Ritzel (Larkspur, Colo.) and Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.) won the bronze medal in 7:06.96. Teammates Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.) and Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.) crossed fourth in 7:12.26.

Great Britain’s Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, the reigning world champions in the event, led the race from wire-to-wire, winning the gold medal in 7:00.66. The 2010 silver medalists from New Zealand, Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown, took silver in 7:01.32.

“I could tell that we were in the pack,” said Lind. “Romania is an excellent crew and they were to the left of us. Then we had all these other great crews; I could sense that some were up and some down.

“We haven’t been rowing together very long. We got together a week ago, and it’s been really great. Taylor is incredibly powerful and I feel really lucky to be in a boat with her. We’re a good team; we trust each other and we help each other out.”

Lind said that she and Ritzel strived to keep an internal focus during the final, “not worrying too much about what was going on around us.”

“We wanted to push our own limits and I think we did that today,” said Lind. “We did something sort of unexpected, so it was great.”

For Ritzel, lining up with teammates Francia and Musnicki in the final was a big motivator.

“I think we’re very fortunate to have strong teammates, because it makes training that much more competitive,” said Ritzel. “We’re always pushing each other. Knowing that they were there and pushing hard made us want to push hard with them and see what we could do together as a team.”

Men’s Four: Bronze
The U.S. men’s four of Scott Gault (Piedmont, Calif.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.) and Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.) won a bronze medal to cap off its performance in Lucerne.

The U.S. crew was among the leaders in the top half of the course and held off Germany to claim the podium position, posting a 5:57.61 at the line.

“We emphasized the first 500 and middle 1,000 (meters) to be a little stronger than yesterday,” said Lanzone, who was a member of the U.S. crew that finished fifth in the event at the 2010 World Rowing Championships. “Then in the last 500, we brought up the rate. The Germans brought up the rate too, and we got them by less than a seat.

“We executed like we wanted to. We made a few technical corrections from the rep to the semi, and from the semi to the final.”

Great Britain won the gold medal with a 5:53.84, followed by Greece in a 5:56.35 for silver.

“We made sure we got out and raced with the leaders,” said Gault. “We had Greece next to us and we knew as long as we stayed with them, we were in good shape. Luckily, the Germans were a little bit back, but they sprinted hard. It was a great race and it’s been a hard week, but we made it.”

Germany crossed just 0.16 behind the U.S. crew, followed by Serbia in fifth and New Zealand in sixth.

Men’s Eight: Fourth Place
The U.S. men’s eight of coxswain Ned DelGuercio (Media, Pa.), Nareg Guregian (North Hills, Calif.), Josh Inman (Hillsboro, Ore.), Steven Coppola (Buffalo, N.Y.), Dan Walsh (Norwalk, Conn.), Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.), Alex Osborne (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), Ross James (DeKalb, Ill.) and Grant James (DeKalb, Ill.) were poised for the silver-medal position nearly the entire length of the course.

The U.S. was second to defending world-champion Germany crossing over each of the 500-meter marks in the finals race. But in the sprint, the United States failed to hold off the charging Dutch and British crews, who edged ahead and crossed the line less than a bow ball in front.

Germany won the gold medal in 5:43.52. Silver went to The Netherlands, who crossed just 0.02 seconds ahead of Great Britain’s 5:45.35 in a 5:45.31, and 0.22 seconds ahead of the United States (5:45.55).

Women’s Quadruple Sculls: Fourth Place
In the final of the women’s quad, Natalie Dell (Clearville, Pa.), Esther Lofgren (Newport Beach, Calif.), Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) and Stesha Carle (Long Beach, Calif.) also took fourth, missing the podium by just 1.22 seconds.

Having raced in a repechage Saturday to qualify for the final, the U.S. crew was in fourth place coming into the 1,500-meter mark, with just two seconds separating it from third-place New Zealand. The U.S. managed to shorten the gap, but fell short, crossing the line in 6:38.81.

Germany won the gold medal in 6:34.44, followed by Great Britain in 6:35.28 for silver and New Zealand in 6:37.59 for bronze.

Men’s Single Sculls: Fourth Place
Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) ended his trip to Lucerne with a fourth-place finish among a field of 27 crews.

The U.S. single sculler, who will represent the U.S. at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, rowed in fourth place the length of the course, posting a time of 7:28.91 at the line. Czech Republic’s Ondrej Synek (7:16.68), New Zealand’s Mahe Drysdale (7:19.08) and Sweden’s Lassi Karonen (7:21.22) finished top three, respectively.

Highlights of the B Finals
In the women’s double sculls, Sarah Trowbridge (Guilford, Conn.) and Kate Bertko (Oakland, Calif.) took second place in a 7:04.44 for eighth place overall. The crew sprinted past Italy in the last 500 meters to finish 1.25 seconds behind Belarus’ time of 7:03.19.

Silas Stafford (Santa Rosa, Calif.), Ryan Monoghan (Pittsford, N.Y.), Sam Stitt (McLean, Va.) and David Banks (Potomac, Md.) finished third in the B final of the men’s four. The USA 2 crew trailed in the first quarter of the race, but managed to move up two positions over the middle 1,000 meters. In the sprint, the crew came within 0.11 seconds of France, posting a 6:01.14 to France’s 6:01.03.

In the B final of the lightweight women’s double sculls, the USA 2 entry of Ursula Grobler (Pretoria, South Africa) and Abby Broughton (Tetonia, Idaho) also finished third in the B final. Grobler and Broughton rowed in third place behind New Zealand and The Netherlands the entire length of the course, posting a 7:13.46 at the line for ninth place overall.

The U.S. men’s double sculls crew of Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa) and Will Miller (Duxbury, Mass.) finished fifth in the B final for 11th place overall. Ochal and Miller clocked a 6:25.86 at the line.

For a complete results report, visit www.worldrowing.com.

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Allison Frederick

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