Saturday U23 Preview: Four Crews Aim for Medal Stand on Saturday

July 13, 2012

TRAKAI, Lithuania – The women’s four, men’s four with coxswain, lightweight women’s quadruple sculls and men’s four will race for medals on Saturday, as racing continues at the 2012 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. In total, the U.S. will have 19 boats in action on the fourth day of competition in Trakai.

The men’s four with coxswain of Seamus Labrum (Cape May Court House, N.J.), Max Mannisto (Belmont, Calif.), Patrick Marre (Portland, Ore.), Garrett Rinden (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Alex Kornick (Akron, Ohio) reached the final by edging out New Zealand for a 0.24-second victory in its heat. The two crews will meet again on Saturday as they take on the other heat winner from Serbia, as well as Australia, Germany and France.

The women’s four of Cathy McDermott (Cazenovia, N.Y.), Molly Bruggeman (Dayton, Ohio), Liz England (Richlands, Va.) and Daphne Martschenko (Fairfax, Va.) advanced to the final through the repechages. The crew will face off against Russia, Canada, Romania, Australia and New Zealand.

With only four entries in the event, the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls crew of Samantha Brecht (Flourtown, Pa.), Sarah Giancola (Buffalo, N.Y.), Carolina Paini (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Cornelia Willis (Buffalo, N.Y.) finished third in the race for lanes on Thursday. The quartet will once again face Germany, Italy and The Netherlands – this time with medals on the line.

The men’s four of Justin Jones (Bellmawr, N.J.), Will Gillis (Seattle, Wash.), Alex Karwoski (Hollis, N.H.) and Ted Baumgardner (Longport, N.J.) earned its spot in the final with a third-place finish in the semifinals. The crew will take on the two semi winners, Great Britain and Germany, as well as New Zealand, Australia and Spain.

Four U.S. crews – the men’s pair, women’s double sculls, lightweight men’s double sculls and lightweight men’s four – will be looking for spots in Sunday’s finals during tomorrow’s semifinals. The top three from each semifinal will advance to the finals.

The lightweight men’s double sculls crew of Nick Trojan (Los Alamitos, Calif.) and Austin Meyer (Cohoes, N.Y.) pulled away from the field over the second half of its heat to earn a victory and one of the top seeds in the semifinals. Trojan and Meyer will take on Poland, Spain, Hungary, Denmark and Italy in the first of two semifinals.

The men’s pair of Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn.) and Dariush Aghai (Skokie, Ill.) battled Germany the entire length of the course before finishing second in its heat. The duo will take on Belarus, South Africa, France, Italy and Bulgaria in the second semifinal.

Carli Goldberg (Sarasota, Fla.) and Cara Linnenkohl (Redmond, Wash.) earned a trip to the semifinals of the women’s double sculls with a third-place finish in their heat. Goldberg and Linnenkohl will take on France, Greece, Lithuania, Italy and Switzerland in the second semifinal.

The lightweight men’s four of Daniel Kirrane (Rockville Centre, N.Y.), Andy Weiland (Upper Arlington, Ohio), Tyler Nase (Phoenixville, Pa.) and Philip Oertle (Zurich, Switzerland) reached the semifinals by virtue of a victory in Friday’s repechage. The crew landed Poland, Italy, Denmark, France and Canada in the first semifinal. The U.S. saw Italy and France in the heat, as well as Canada in the repechage.

Eleven crews will race in placement finals on Saturday.

The lightweight men’s pair of Chandler Mahaney (Greenwich, Conn.) and Jack Devlin (Arlington, Va.) will take on Argentina, Ireland, Switzerland, Lithuania and Belarus in the B final for places 7-12. Mahaney and Devlin finished sixth in their semifinal.

In the women’s pair, Rosie Popa (Melbourne, Australia) and Anna Kaminski (Seattle, Wash.) will take on Hungary and Latvia in the B final for places 7-9. Popa and Kaminski finished third in the repechage.

The lightweight men’s quadruple sculls crew of Roger Stone (New Canaan, Conn.), John O’Mara (Philadelphia, Pa.), Dylan Gould (Riverhead, N.Y.) and John Redos (Mount Bethel, Pa.) finished fourth in its repechage and will now race Great Britain, Switzerland, Brazil and Chinese Taipei in the B final.

In the women’s quadruple sculls, the crew of Britta Syverson (Minneapolis, Minn.), Samantha Warren (Davis, Calif.), Agatha Nowinski (Sacramento, Calif.) and Martie Kuzzy (Minneapolis, Minn.) also finished fourth in its repechage. They will face Russia, Ukraine, France, Switzerland and Latvia in the B final.

In the lightweight women’s single sculls, Alex Morss (Concord, Mass.) will take on scullers from the Czech Republic, Canada, Hungary, Belgium and Denmark in the C final for places 13-18. Lightweight men’s single sculler Jonathan Furlong (Pittstown, N.J.) will also race in the C final. He will face scullers from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Georgia and Belgium.

John Madura (West Milford, N.J.) and Matt Schanck (Brownstown, Mich.) missed a spot in the semifinals by less than one second, finishing fourth in their repechage of the men’s double sculls. The duo will take on Greece, Brazil, Ukraine, Indonesia and Venezuela in the C final.

The lightweight women’s double sculls duo of Kayla McNeill (Montclair, N.J.) and Solveig Imsdahl (Scheelholz, Germany) also missed a spot in the semifinals by one place. They will take on Hungary, Venezuela and Ukraine in the C final.

The men’s quadruple sculls crew of Benjamin Dann (Pound Ridge, N.Y.), Chris Massey (Mills, Mass.), Carter Aronson (Rye, N.Y.) and Mike Donohue (Malvern, Pa.), as well as women’s single sculler Maddie Lips (Parker, Colo.), won their C/D semifinals to advance to the C finals.

The quad will race crews from Norway, Poland, Hungary and Austria, while Lips will face scullers from the Czech Republic, Belgium, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Men’s single sculler Chris Buesser (Ridgewood, N.J.) will race in the E final on Saturday against scullers from Denmark and Moldova.

Racing concludes on Friday with finals in 13 events.

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Brett Johnson

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