U23 Scullers Qualify 4 Boats for Worlds
Photo by S. Hap Whelpley
To put it simply, the Green Racing Project U23 rowers showed a dominant performance in each of their finals today at U23 Trials. Though our racers experienced another day riddled with weather delays, we had crews in both the morning and the afternoon shine. Racing started again with the BW1x, Anna Matthes of Yale University. Anna posted a 7:56.62, beating her next closest competitor by a confident 13 seconds. Anna has been with us through the Fall Collegiate Sculling Program and stayed in Craftsbury to train through the winter, and this result shows how valuable her training has been.
Next to race was Will Legenzowski from Brown University. Will walked away from a highly competitive field putting up a time of 7:05.29, beating out the second place sculler by 8 seconds. Will raced this winter with the GRP in the 1x at Olympic Trials 1 where he demonstrated his racing prowess over and over again to come in 5th overall. We are proud that he was able to show how much he learned in all of his high level racing in the winter and hope he brings his competitive spirit to the Czech Republic.
The next race was the BW2x with Jenna Hardman of Brown University and Gabby DiMarco of Temple University. They were edged out by a mere 3 seconds to come in 2nd with a time of 7:32.84, but demonstrated an impressive sprint through the last portion of their race to put pressure on the winning crew. These two athletes showed impressive poise and maturity throughout their training and did the Cedar Sprig on their uniforms proud.
The final race to happen before the weather delay was the BM2x, made up of Tucker Thomas of Boston University and Simon Hatcher of Brown University. Though Tucker had never lined up for a 2k race in his life before, he and his partner showed impressive grit and competitive spirit, putting down a time of 6:36.54 and beating the second place crew by 8 seconds. These two have been improving in leaps and bounds starting this fall and continuing through the winter. They will bring their intensity and constant improvement to throw down with the international competition in July.
After the delay, the GRP Composite BM2- bowed by our very own Jackson Hardin of Cornell University put down their first piece together of the regatta. Though they did not come out on top, falling 7 seconds behind the winning crew. Jackson spent the first part of the summer with an impressive positive attitude and readiness to constantly improve, and definitely demonstrated these traits in his racing, as well as the week leading up to it.
Our final crew to race that day was our indomitable BLW2x, made up of Lanie Tierney of Temple University and Em Molins of Stanford University. These two punched their tickets to Račice with a time of 7:30.54, beating their competitors by 19 seconds. These two have spent their time on the GRP demonstrating both their willingness and ability to compete with every boat on the water that tried to keep up, and we know the crews they will face at Worlds should be afraid of their tenacity.
With U23 Trials in the books, that puts the GRP U23 scullers qualifying four crews to U23 Worlds, 2 men’s crews and 2 women’s crews. As these six athletes finish their preparation for World Championships, we wish them the best of luck and are not jealous of their competition to have to line up against them. We cannot forget to thank the coaches, Hap Whelpley and Andriel Dolittle, for their commitment to these athletes. We also have to thank our sponsors, Hudson Boat Works and RegattaSport, for supplying our team with the boats and gear that helped them go fast (and look fast) for the whole regatta.
