Five More United States Crews Row for Medals Sunday

August 18, 2012

PLOVDIV – With three medals in the books, the United States will try for more in five events today in the final day of the 2012 World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Ursula Grobler (Pretoria, South Africa) will go first for a medal at 10:20 a.m. in the lightweight senior women’s single sculls, racing against Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece, Rikke Quist of Denmark, New Zealand’s Lucy Strack, Austria’s Michaela Taupe-Traer and Alena Krvasheyenka of Belarus.

With defending world champion Fabiana Beltrame of Brazil failing to advance from the semifinal, there will be a new champion crowed tomorrow. The race is wide open and Grobler is certainly a contender as is Tsiavou, who was faster in the semifinal in time and is coming in after a bronze medal performance in London in the lightweight women’s double sculls.

Next up will be Andrew Campbell (New Canaan, Conn.) at 10:30 am. rowing in the lightweight men’s single sculls. Campbell rows against Denmark’s Henrik Stephansen, Austria’s Florian Berg, Italy’s Pietro Ruta, Hungary’s Peter Galambos and Switzerland’s Michael Schmid.

Stephensen is the reigning world champion, but Campbell is poised to medal and could challenge for gold.

The junior women’s double crew of Mackenzi Sherman (Los Alamitos, Calif.) and Olivia MacLean (Lancaster, Mass.) row next at 11:15 a.m. The U.S. sprinted into the final yesterday in the last 500-meters of their semifinal and will now face Lithuania, Germany, Romania, Hungary and France.  

Rowing at 11:45 a.m. will be the junior women’s eight crew of coxswain Amanda Rutherford (Piedmont, Calif.), Eliza Spilsbury (Centerville, Mass.), Caroline Hart (Shrewsbury, Mass), Mia Croonquist (Vashon Island, Wash.), Sylvie Sallquist (Seattle, Wash.), Claire Collins (McLean, Va.), MacKenzie Bartz (Portland, Ore.), Carolina Radcliffe (Falls Church, Va.) and Joanna Mulvey (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) will take on Romania, Germany, Italy, Russia and Belarus.

With just six entries, the crews have only raced once in a race for lanes. The U.S. finished third.

In the junior men’s eight, the crew of coxswain Peter Overfield (Corte Madre, Calif.), Julian Goldman (Ross, Calif.), BJ Francis (St. Louis, Mo.), Harrison Van Andel (Long Beach, Calif.), Patrick Muto (Barrington, Ill.), Patrick Eble (Ft. Washington, Pa.), Gregory Davis (Daly City, Calif.), Peter Woolley (Tiburon, Calif.) and Rich Caputo (Riverside, Conn.) row for a medal at 12:30.

The U.S. faltered in the second half of their opening heat, but came back strong in the repechage, winning convincingly.  They will face Italy, Germany, Romania, Great Britain and Turkey. The U.S. is capable of medaling, but Great Britain and Germany are the fastest two crews based on times rowed this week.

In the lightweight senior men’s pair, Will Daly (Vail, Colo.) and Greg Flood (Tulsa, Okla.) row in the B final at 9:14 against New Zealand, Canada, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Mexico.

Also in the B final, the junior men’s pair of Justin Murphy (Montclair, N.J.) and Nathaniel Goodman (Montclair, N.J.), finished sixth in their race and will race tomorrow at 9:21 a.m. against Croatia, France, Ireland, Poland and Belgium.

In the junior men’s double sculls, Chase Buchholz (Norfolk, Mass.) and Richard Wagner (Providence, R.I.) will also row for places 7-12 at 9:35 a.m. against France, Slovenia, Norway, Serbia and Lithuania.

For complete event coverage, schedules and results, visit http://www.usrowing.org/Pressbox/12SrJrWorldsChampions.aspx.



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Ed Moran

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