Trials II Heat s see fast time

Credit: photo US Rowing

Trials II Heat s see fast time


With the sun setting over Mercer Lake Thursday evening, athletes returned to the Caspersen boathouse as heats were held for the men’s and women’s open and lightweight doubles at the 2019 Senior Trials II/Para NSR/Speed Order II.

Following a top time-trial placement, Christine Cavallo (Windermere, Fla.) and Michelle Sechser (Folsom Calif.) took command of the lightweight women’s double, winning the first heat and advancing directly to Sunday’s final. The Hydrow/Vesper composite finished in 7:02.75, the fastest overall time in the event. Last year’s world championship silver medalists Mary Jones (Huntsville, Ala.) and Emily Schmieg (Philadelphia, Pa.) followed behind in the heat with a time of 7:10.42, placing second.

The second heat of the women’s lightweight double was won in 7:06.10 by the Sarasota/BIAC composite crew of Mary Reckford (Short Hills, N.J.) and Rosa Kemp (Putnam Valley, N.Y.). Reckford and Kemp’s placement also earned the pair a spot in Sunday’s final. Sarasota Crew’s Jessica Hyne-Dolan and Cara Stawicki (Wall, N.J.) clocked a 7:09.10 to take second in the heat.

With the same structure as the women’s lightweight double, the winners of the men’s lightweight double sculls heats advanced directly to Sunday’s final, while the remainder will face off in Saturday’s repechages. After clocking the fastest time trial this morning, the Vesper/New York Athletic Club composite crew of Jasper Liu (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Daniel Madden (New Rochelle, N.Y.) took first in its heat and advanced directly to the final, finishing in 6:26.74. Peter Schmidt (Providence, R.I.) and Zachary Heese (Pelham, N.Y.) followed in 6:31.78 to place second.

In the second heat, Nick Trojan (Los Alamitos, Calif.) and Andrew Campbell (New Canaan, Conn.) of Newport and Cambridge crossed the line in 6:28.04, well ahead of the second-place Matthew O’Leary (Westwood, Mass.) and Tyler Nase (Phoenixville, Pa.). O’Leary and Nase raced down the course in 6:36.69. Trojan and Campbell will race in Sunday’s final alongside Liu and Madden.

Racing for the women’s double was broken down into three heats. First and second-place finishers would go on to progress to Saturday’s semifinals and the remainder finishers to tomorrow morning’s repechages.

Cambridge Boat Club’s Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.) and Cicely Madden (Weston, Mass.) qualified alongside the Vesper Boat Club/SoCal Scullers composite crew of Margaret Fellows (Greenfield, Mass.) and Julia Lonchar (San Francisco, Calif.). The crews took first and second in heat one, crossing the line in 7:02.96 and 7:11.10, respectively.

Joining Stone, Madden, Fellows and Lonchar in the semifinals is ARION’s crew of Lily Keane (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Kristina Wagner (Weston, Mass.), which placed first in the second heat. The two clocked a 7:08.02, ahead of second-place Alie Rusher (West Bend, Wis.) and Kate Roach (North Oaks, Minn.) of USTC – Princeton. Rusher and Roach finished in 7:12.60, just edging out the third-place crew by 0.26 seconds.

In the third and final heat, New York Athletic Club double of Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.) and Meghan O’Leary (Baton Rouge, La.) finished first with open water on Brooke Wolford (San Rafael, Calif.) and Charlotte Forman (Hampton Bays, N.Y.). Tomek and O’Leary crossed the line in 7:10.44, while the Vesper crew finished in 7:22.63.

In the men’s double sculls, the sole Speed Order II event, Michael Knippen (Germantown, Wis.) and Gregory Ansolabehere (Bakersfield, Calif.) of Penn AC won the first heat in 6:25.50. The winners of the second and third heats were the Craftsbury/Vesper composite of Kevin Meador (Berkeley, Calif.) and Jonathan Kirkegaard (Philadelphia, Penn.) and the Craftsbury/Penn AC composite crew of John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Justin Keen (Hatfield, Penn.) in 6:25.15 and 6:30.70, respectively. The top four crews from each heat advanced to Saturday’s semifinals, while the rest will race in the C final that day.