STAFF REPORTS
PHOTO BY ED MORAN

USRowing announced today that financial technology company Broadridge Partners will support the women’s national team through an elite athlete management program.

The program will provide five positions with the company to five U.S. Women’s National Rowing Team hopefuls.

“We are thrilled to announce this exciting partnership with Broadridge and this innovative management training program,” said USRowing CEO Amanda Kraus. “This partnership provides our women’s national team athletes with a strong opportunity to succeed in the boat while building their careers with a world class company.” 

Chief High Performance Officer Josy Verdonkschot said that the innovative model can be applied to other companies as well.

“Our vision is that this innovative and creative program will serve as a model for other companies who want to support our Olympic and Paralympic teams and athletes,” said Verdonkschot.

The agreement is set to last three years with Broadridge also acting as a Presenting Sponsor of the USRowing Youth National Championships and USRowing Golden Oars Gala for 2022, 2023, and 2024.

STAFF REPORTS
PHOTO BY ED MORAN

The second day of rowing at the 2022 USRowing National Regatta II includes the women’s repechages.

The top three finishers from each event will advance to Thursday’s semifinals.

For a full list of results click here.

* Coverage brought to you by Gemini.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY ED MORAN

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. — Just before the start of the men’s heavy double time trial Tuesday morning at National Selection Regatta II on Mercer Lake, Jasper Liu and Zack Heese were munching on breakfast sandwiches — peanut butter and jelly for Liu, straight peanut butter for Heese.

They were the only two athletes on the first day of NSR II eating with 30 minutes to go before launching their boat. But they were also the only two of the 14 men’s heavy doubles to have had to make weight.

The thing was, Liu and Heese were also rowing in the lightweight men’s double, and the event — as well as the women’s lightweight double — was uncontested. They wanted to make sure they could race all week and test themselves in side-by-side racing as the event moved on toward Friday’s finals.

“Just made weight, and now it’s time to fuel up,” Liu said just before getting up and walking back to the boatyard to grab their boat.

The quick fill-up apparently worked the way it was supposed to because Liu and Heese finished fourth overall in the open double and then paddled back to the start to row the course again in the lightweight men’s double final.

“It was a quick turnaround between our weigh-in and the heavyweight time trial, but we decided to still put a solid piece down and see our base pace. Then we just had to turn around and paddle back up and treat it like two-by-2k for the second piece,” Liu said.

“It was fine; we got the job done, just had to make it down the course,” he said. “Didn’t flip. Didn’t get disqualified.”

It was an odd situation, for sure. 

Olympic boat class selection events do not go normally go uncontested. But this is a post-Olympic year and a year where the USRowing selection system has been completely reconstructed, and both the men’s and women’s light finals were one boat shows.

It did not make for blazing fast times. Liu and Heese finished in 7:14.73, just 84 percent of the 6:05.00 gold standard for the event. Tokyo Olympians Michelle Sechser and Molly Reckford rowed a 7:53.11, also 84 percent of the women’s gold standard time of 6:41.00.

But while it was not the kind of speed they wanted or would need in international competition, it did earn them the opportunity to represent the U.S. at World Cup I in Poznan, Poland, and row for a top-six finish and a place on the 2022 Senior World Championship Team that will race at the World Rowing Championships September 18-25 in Racice, Czech Republic.

For crews racing in the four other events in this regatta, the men’s and women’s doubles and the men’s women’s pairs, Tuesday was just the beginning of their quest to earn a chance to race internationally for a place on the 2022 national team and for an opportunity to be invited to the big boat selection camps later in the year.

“Being back racing is always exciting,” Reckford said. “But time trials like this are a new experience for us. We’ve always had this pressure of it being do or die, do or die, and coming out today was a new challenge to try to find that fire and to really race hard in conditions where there is nobody next to you pushing you.

“But we’re going to keep working and keep finding speed, and now we get to really focus on World Cup in Poland,” she said.

“I’ve never done this before, and I much prefer racing other people. In my first doubles race, there were eight of us, and it was really exciting,” she said. “So, this was certainly a new and very different challenge, and I look forward to getting side by side again.”

Liu and Heese will continue racing toward the Friday finals in the open men’s double.

Racing will continue Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. and include the women’s double repechages.

For a full list of entries and results, click here.

* Coverage is brought to you by Gemini.

STAFF REPORTS
PHOTO BY ED MORAN

The 2022 USRowing National Selection Regatta II is underway.

This morning’s racing includes time trials in the men’s and women’s double and the men’s and women’s pair.

The first day of racing also includes finals in the men’s and women’s lightweight doubles, which are uncontested.

The progression on the World Rowing circuit starts at a National Selection Regatta, where crews race to earn a bid to a World Cup event. If that crew then finishes in the top six at the World Cup event—or the top 50 percent finish if there are fewer than 12 entries—they earn a bid to the World Rowing Championships. This year’s World Rowing Championships will be September 18-25 in Racice, Czech Republic.

Results will be available on HereNow. For a complete list of entries, visit RegattaCentral.

* Trials Coverage is brought to you by Gemini.

BY CHIP DAVIS
PHOTO BY SPORTGRAPHICS

The Wellesley College women and Williams College men won varsity eight grand finals at the 2022 New England Rowing Championship regatta, Saturday, April 30 on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. A total of 31 colleges and universities entered 149 crews across 14 events.

The Williams varsity (coxswain Piper Higgins, stroke Tad Montesano, Agustus Nordmeyer, Trevor Eckler, Owen Maier, Nick Ambeliotis, Riley Will, Collin Dent, and bow Zola Baird) were joined by their second varsity eight (coxswain Katherine Friedman, stroke Ben Washburne, Ben Floyd, Max Chayet, Austin Connelly, Trent Boone, Bernal Cortes, Noah Phipps, and bow Theodore Tellides) in victory. 

Bates College’s second varsity women’s eight (coxswain Isabella Sobolewski, stroke Genesis Bussey, Lydia Barker, Olivia Szachta, Alexa Bowerfind, Abby Somosky, Mary Trafton, Hope Stamp, and bow Darya Lee) won both their heat and grand final, coached by Peter Steenstra.

In the men’s third varsity eight, Worcester’s own College of the Holy Cross was the best of a nine-boat field, as coxswain Katherine Wagner, stroke Cole Rice, Christopher Cosenza,  Mateo Campos, Matthew Robertson, William Mead, Christian Giacomini, Patrick McLaughlin, and bow Joseph Martin crossed the line almost seven seconds ahead of second-place Williams, as the Crusaders prevented a sweep by the Ephs and also won the men’s fourth varsity eight three-boat, final-only with the crew of coxswain Michael Ruffini, stroke Nicholas Stachurski, William Lewis, Alexander Abbruzzese, Marin Gabric, Henry Linton, Jack Daly, Charles Wood, and bow Gregory Nacheff.

The Bates women (coxswain Olivia Selinem, stroke Emily Everett, Josephine Stevens, Hannah Burdick, Eloise Botka, Miryam Keller, Madeline Hogan, Dominique Bunnell, and bow Beatrice Johnston) won their third varsity eight final, edging Smith College by just over a second.

Smith earned the win in the women’s fourth varsity eight four-boat final only, with the crew of coxswain Elizabeth von der Heydt, stroke Camille Crossett, Dianie Chen, Amelia Murphy, Elinor Sterner, Sadie Aurora, Sophie Fennell, Fiona Brummer, and cox Rosemary Beck beating second-place Williams to the finish, with Bates third.

The University of Rhode Island’s men’s varsity four (coxswain Kathryn McGee, stroke Levi Comire, Bradley Schmidt, Gunnar Rinkel, and bow Isaiah Kittel) beat Fairfield University in second, and Colby College in third. In the women’s varsity four, a University of New Hampshire scratch in the heats led to seven-boat final, won by the Bowdoin crew of coxswain Seneca Ellis, stroke Lucia O’Sullivan, Abigail Steinwachs, Elizabeth Thomas, and bow Kate Tapscott. 

In the second varsity fours, Rhode Island men’s crew of coxswain Nolan Deschenes, stroke Joseph Connors, Darius Drakes, Luke Briglin, and bow Andrew Snow won their event and the Bowdoin crew of coxswain Brandon Schuster, stroke Summer Chamberlin, Kathryn John, Yasmeen Wirth, and bow Meg Janes won the women’s event.

The University of Rhode Island completed the sweep of men’s fours with their third varsity crew of coxswain Kristian Andersen, stroke William Bourke, Michael Martin, Atticus Makuch, and bow Ethan Angell. 

Bowdoin was the big winner in women’s fours, completing their sweep with victory in the third varsity fours grand final with the crew of coxswain Emily Jones, stroke Annika Carey,  Violet Rizzieri, Charlotte Billingsley, and bow Sara Schrag.

STAFF REPORTS
PHOTO BY ED MORAN

The second edition of the 2022 National Selection Regatta series will begin Tuesday, May 3.

Racing is set across six boat classes, including the men’s and women’s double, lightweight double, and pairs with World Rowing Cup II berths up for grabs in all of them.

“It’s really gratifying to see the group grow from NSR I,” Penn AC head coach Bill Manning said. “We had some new guys come and join us, saw opportunities to get together with some other guys, and the focus is to position a few of these guys to earn selection into the camp.”

“We don’t have a crew that’s in a position to win this event, but we do have crews that are worthy of consideration for camp,” Manning said. “Hopefully, we can race well, race smartly, and show people what they can do.”

The progression on the World Rowing circuit starts at a National Selection Regatta, where crews race to earn a bid to a World Cup event. If that crew then finishes in the top six at the World Cup event—or the top 50 percent finish if there are fewer than 12 entries—they earn a bid to the World Rowing Championships. This year’s World Rowing Championships will take place September 18-25 in Racice, Czech Republic.

The 2022 NSR II is unique due to the fact both lightweight doubles are running uncontested.

Jasper Liu and Zach Heese, members of the TRC High Performance program, are the lone entry in the lightweight men’s double. Unsatisfied at the prospect of having to race alone, the two are also going to test their speed in the men’s double event racing against open weight competitors.

“I don’t want to put words in anyone’s mouth—there are still other lightweights that are racing this week, but they chose to race in the open weight event for their own reasons,” Liu said. “Zach and I are excited that this allows us to race some fast heavyweight boats and get more trips down the course this week.”

Molly Reckford and Michelle Sechser, the lone entry in the women’s lightweight double event, will also race uncontested.

Racing at the 2022 National Selection Regatta II begins Tuesday morning with time trials and finals for the uncontested events. It will conclude May 6. Results will be available on HereNow. For a full list of entries, visit RegattaCentral.

* Trials Coverage is brought to you by Gemini.

STAFF REPORTS
PHOTO BY LUKE REYNOLDS

WICHITA, Kan. —Only two days after an EF3 tornado ripped through Andover, Kansas, a mere 15-miles from the Arkansas River rowing racecourse, the 2022 Plains Regional Regatta went on without a hitch.

The regatta featured racing in ten events, with eight crews from the Plains region competing.

One of the most dominant performances of the day came from Wichita State University’s Andre VanMeerhaeghe.

VanMeerhaeghe had a remarkable one-minute and 14-second lead over second place.

The Shockers also had an impressive finish in the women’s double, finishing nearly 30 seconds ahead of The University of Kansas.

In the men’s novice eight, it was Washington University in Saint Louis that took the top spot with a time of 5:50.748.

A list of full results can be viewed here. A recording of the event’s live stream can be viewed here.