U.S. Sending 16 Crews to Poznan

Credit: US Rowing

U.S. Sending 16 Crews to Poznan

With just over two months remaining until the 2019 World Rowing Championships, the United States will have 45 athletes and 16 crews testing their speed at the second World Rowing Cup of the year starting Friday in Poznan, Poland.

After finishing fourth at last year’s world championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, women’s single sculler Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif.) will race internationally for the first time this year. Kohler has already claimed her spot on the 2019 World Championships roster after winning the U.S. trials in the event in April. Kohler is one in a field of 20 scullers that includes Austria’s Magdalena Lobnig, who won the bronze medal at last year’s world championships, three-time Olympian Emma Twigg of New Zealand and seven-time Olympian Ekaterina Karsten, who turned 47 earlier this month, from Belarus.

After falling to Kohler in the single sculls trials, 2016 Olympic silver medalist Genevra Stone (Newton, Mass.) teamed up with Cicely Madden (Weston, Mass.) to win the trials in the women’s double sculls in May, unseating the duo of Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.) and Meghan O’Leary (Baton Rouge, La.) Tomek and O’Leary won bronze in the event at last year’s world championships. Stone and Madden, who will be competing together internationally for the first time, are part of a 22-boat field in Poland that includes Tomek and O’Leary, as well as last year’s gold and silver medalists from Lithuania and New Zealand.

Andrew Campbell (New Canaan, Conn.), a 2016 Olympic finalist in the lightweight men’s double sculls, will race with a new partner, Nick Trojan (Los Alamitos, Calif.), in Poznan. After taking a year off following the Rio Games, Campbell won a bronze medal in the lightweight men’s single sculls at last year’s world championships, while Trojan last raced on the national team in 2017. Campbell and Trojan already earned their spots on this year’s national team thanks to their victory at the trials in May. The duo are part of a 24-boat field that includes last year’s silver medalists from Italy.

Fresh off their trials’ victory in the lightweight women’s double sculls, Christine Cavallo (Windermere, Fla.) and Michelle Sechser (Folsom, Calif.) will be looking to build upon that win, which saw them defeat the reigning world silver medalists. Both Cavallo and Sechser finished fourth in their events at last year’s world championships, Cavallo in the lightweight quadruple sculls and Sechser in the lightweight single sculls. They will be part of a 22-boat field in Poznan.

By virtue of their victory at the first National Selection Regatta in March, Tracy Eisser (Fair Lawn, N.J.) and Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) can earn a spot on the 2019 World Championships roster in the women’s pair with a top-three finish in Poznan. Eisser and Kalmoe, who won the silver medal in the event at the 2017 World Rowing Championships, missed the first world cup race. The duo will take on 23 other crews in Poznan including the second U.S. boat of Emily Huelskamp (Sainte Genevieve, Mo.) and Allyson Baker (North Royalton, Ohio), which finished second at the first NSR. The defending world silver medalists from New Zealand are scheduled to race, as is one half of Canada’s defending world champion crew.

In the men’s four, the U.S. will have two entries in the 21-boat field. The first boat includes Alexander Wallis (Cupertino, Calif.), Conor Harrity (Weston, Mass.), Tom Dethlefs (Lawrenceville, N.J.), and Alexander Richards (Watertown, Mass.) Dethlefs and Harrity were part of the men’s eight that finished fourth at last year’s world championships, while Richards raced in the men’s four. The second crew includes Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn.), Andrew Reed (Wayland, Mass.), Mike DiSanto (Boston, Mass.) and Alex Karwoski (Moultonborough, N.H.) Karwoski, DiSanto and Reed were all part of the eight last year, while Hack, a 2016 Olympian, is returning to competition after a two-year break. Twenty-one boats are entered in the event.

Hallie Smith (Washington, D.C.), who won a bronze medal at last year’s world championships, will see her first international action of the year in the PR1 women’s single sculls. Smith will take on five other scullers including Norway’s Birgit Skarstein, the defending world champion, and Germany’s Sylvia Pille-Steppat, who finished fourth in Plovdiv.

The women’s eight also will see its first action of the year in Poznan. At last year’s world championships, the U.S. boat returned to the top of the medal stand after a one-year hiatus. The Poznan lineup features six members of last year’s world championship boat including coxswain Katelin Guregian (Detroit, Mich.), Olivia Coffey (Watkins Glen, N.Y.), Kristine O’Brien (Massapequa Park, N.Y.), Dana Moffat (Manlius, N.Y.), Gia Doonan (Rochester, Mass.) and Felice Mueller (Cleveland, Ohio). Joining the crew will be Erin Reelick (Brookfield, Conn.), who won gold in the women’s four last year, Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.), a two-time Olympic gold medalist who is back after a two-year break, and newcomer Brooke Mooney (Peru, Vt.) Eight boats are scheduled to race including Canada and Australia, last year’s other medalists.

At the first World Rowing Cup in May, the U.S. raced three women’s fours, finishing second, fourth and fifth. This week, the U.S. will have two entries in the 15-boat field. The first U.S. entry of Molly Bruggeman (Dayton, Ohio), Emily Regan (Buffalo, N.Y.), Madeline Wanamaker (Neenah, Wis.) and Vicky Opitz (Middleton, Wis.) all won gold medals at last year’s world championship, with Bruggeman and Wanamaker winning the four and Regan and Opitz winning the eight. The second U.S. boat includes Brooke Pierson (Alexandria, Va.), Regina Salmons (Jamestown, R.I. ), Jessica Thoennes (Highlands Ranch, Colo.), and Elizabeth Sonshine (Short Hills, N.J.). Pierson and Salmons were part of the under 23 team last year, while Sonshine raced in the women’s quadruple sculls at the world championships and Thoennes served as an alternate in Plovdiv.

The men’s quadruple sculls crew of Gregory Ansolabehere (Bakersfield, Calif.), Tristan Amberger (Towson, Md.), Michael Knippen (Germantown, Wis.) and John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) will take on 11 other crews. Knippen, who won the trials in the men’s single sculls in May, was part of the quadruple sculls at last year’s world championships with Ansolabehere. Graves raced in the men’s double sculls last year, while Amberger was a member of the under 23 quad in 2017. Italy and Australia, last year’s top two finishers, are both scheduled to race.

In the PR3 mixed four with coxswain, the U.S. has won the silver medal at the last five world championships or Paralympic Games. This weekend, the crew of coxswain Karen Petrik (Glastonbury, Conn.), Danielle Hansen (Patterson, Calif.), Charley Nordin (Alameda, Calif.), Todd Vogt (Rochester, N.Y.), and Allie Reilly (North Kingstown, R.I.) will get its first chance to see this year’s competition. The crew will face off against seven other boats, including the reigning world champions from Great Britain.

Rounding out the U.S. entries will be Matthew O’Leary (Westwood, Mass.) in the lightweight men’s single sculls. O’Leary last raced on the international scene in the same event at the 2017 World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. He is one of 15 scullers entered in the event.

Racing will take place beginning Friday, June 21, and run through Sunday, June 23. In total, 354 boats from 45 countries are scheduled to race.