One U.S. Crew Falls, Six Advance at Henley Royal Regatta

July 01, 2011

HENLEY-ON-THAMES, England – They train out of the same boathouse in Princeton, New Jersey, but after flying across the Atlantic to the Henley Royal Regatta, they were paired against each other in the opening race for the women’s eight today.

And while the Princeton University women’s eight was the 2011 NCAA champions and went undefeated all season, it was outmatched by the United States defending Olympic and five-time defending world championship eight.

The U.S. crew of Mary Whipple (Orangevale, Calif.), Taylor Ritzel (Larkspur, Colo.), Meghan Musnicki (Naples N.Y.), Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.), Jamie Redman (Spokane, Wash.), Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.), Kady Glessner (Seattle Wash.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa) and Erin Cafaro (Modesto, Calif.) won its opening event in the Remenham Challenge Cup and capped a day of racing at Henley-on-Thames in which seven of nine USRowing Training Center boats competed.

The U.S. crews saw racing in the women’s single sculls, men’s double sculls, women’s quadruple sculls, men’s pair, men’s four and women’s eight.

The men’s quadruple sculls and men’s eight will see their first action tomorrow in the semifinals. Of the nine U.S. entries, only one crew has been defeated.

In the single elimination, head-to-head format that is the Henley trademark, the USRowing Chula Vista Training Center men’s pair team of Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.) and Justin Stangel (Madison, Wis.) were eliminated from the Silver Goblets and Nickalls' Challenge Cup event by the Italian entry of Lorenzo Carboncini and Niccolo Mornati.

Carboncini and Mornati, members of the men’s four that won silver at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and finished second place in the first World Rowing Cup stop this year in Munich, defeated the U.S. crew by more than a boat length of open water.

In the men’s Double Sculls Challenge Cup, the Chula Vista entry of Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa) and Will Miller (Duxbury, Mass.) defeated the British entry from the Chester-le-Street Amateur Rowing Club.

Rowing for the Princess Royal Challenge Cup in the women’s single sculls, Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass) won her race against Britain’s Kristine Johnson of the Leeds Rowing Club by four lengths to advance to the semifinal round.

In the women’s quadruple sculls Princes Grace Challenge Cup both Princeton Training Center entries advanced. The crew of Ali Cox (Turlock, Calif.), Natalie Dell (Clearville, Pa.), Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) and Stesha Carle (Long Beach, Calif.) defeated the Chinese team from the Shandong Water Sports Centre.

The other entry of Caryn Davies (Ithaca, N.Y.), Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif.), Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) and Esther Lofgren (Newport Beach, Calif.) beat the entry from Britain’s Nottingham Rowing Club.

The Chula Vista Training Center men’s four entry of Scott Gault (Piedmont, Calif.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.) and Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.) won their match in the Stewards’ Challenge Cup by more than three lengths over the Shandong Water Sports Centre crew.

For complete regatta coverage, visit www.worldrowing.com.

About USRowing
USRowing is a nonprofit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States. USRowing’s official suppliers include Boathouse Sports, Vespoli, Win Tech, Filippi, Croker Oars, Rudy Project, Concept2, Nielsen Kellerman, PowerHTV and Ludus Tours. USRowing also receives generous support from the National Rowing Foundation and its corporate sponsors, ANXeBusiness Corp, Equinox and Voxer. For more information, visit www.usrowing.org. USRowing has joined forces with Team Arnstein to help ensure the U.S. Team's success leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games under a new corporate sponsorship campaign, The Row to London. For more information, please visit www.teamarnstein.com.

Ed Moran

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