U23 Rowers Shine in the Time Trial
We are excited to announce that U23 Trials kicked off today with impressive performances from all our U23 athletes. The day began with some drama, with only the BW1x, Anna Mathes, able to complete her time trial in the morning while the rest of the athletes were quickly cleared from the course due to a thunder warning. The situation did not slow Anna down, with an impressive 7:31.87 and leading the pack by about 12 seconds. When asked about her piece, she said “After not racing for a year, I was really excited to just take my boat down a buoyed course. It was nice to be able to see all my training from this year at Craftsbury pay off with a solid piece. I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do tomorrow.”
The rest of the races were delayed to 1:45 PM, where our boats continued to shine. Lanie Tierney and Em Mollins, our unstoppable BWL2x, lead the pack by about 11 seconds with a blistering 6:57.1. The two summed up their piece with impressive maturity from young athletes, saying “We were excited to have the opportunity to race other lightweight crews at trials. We approached today’s TT purposefully, aggressively, and at a lower base rate to set us up for uncorking it tomorrow.”
Will Legenzowski, the BM1x, raced next, and dominated the competition with a 6:36.58, leading the men’s singles by 23 seconds. Will stayed humble when summing up his mentality, claiming that he “had a good spin on the course, got some nerves out and enjoyed the tailwind.” When asked about his piece today and about tomorrow’s race, he said “Today I was able to just keep my race rate without putting on too much pressure and it ended up being enough. I’m incredibly excited to hopefully seal the deal tomorrow!”
Next came our BW2x, with Gabby DiMarco and Jenna Hardman. They finished second in the time trial, with a close 4 seconds between them and the leader with a time of 7:09.64. They approached their piece today as an opportunity to build some experience at race pace, saying “Today was all about feeling each other, feeling a high rate in the tailwind, and seeing what we can do. We have been focusing on clean hands for clean effort and today was a step toward that.” When asked about their piece tomorrow and their approach, they summed up their mentality and plan with a positive outlook. “We are planning for a tight concise race that pushes us through the finish line first with a race we are proud of. We are looking to adapt to our recent lineup change and all that’s been thrown at us and thrive in the final.”
Last but not least came the BW2x of Tucker Thomas and Simon Hatcher. In Tucker’s first real trip down a buoyed 2k course, these two impressed and excelled finishing about 5 seconds ahead of the field with a 6:17.97. These two are excited to throw down again tomorrow, saying “We had a strong race and adapted fairly well to some challenging conditions. There were some challenges with taking controlled strokes in the weather, but ultimately the combination of a very strong result and plenty of room for growth leaves both of us extremely excited for tomorrow.”
We are excited to see our young scullers who have been in and out of Craftsbury since the fall seize the day tomorrow with some real side-by-side racing. We are hoping they can all punch their tickets to U23 Worlds and are cheering for the U23 Sprigs.
