Women’s Quad Advances to Finals on Friday at World Rowing Junior Championships
The U.S. women's quadruple sculls advanced to the finals on Friday, highlighting the third day of competition at the 2021 World Rowing Junior Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
The crew of Meena Baher (Mountain View, Calif./Los
"Going into today's race, we knew we had to execute better," Oruci said. "We knew that we had to get off of the line quicker in order to maintain a steady position. As a boat, we all knew moving into the halfway mark that we were in a solid position for qualifying for that A final, so we let our bodies take over and we started to move in that third 500. Being able to know where we stood and seeing the other crews in our peripherals allowed us make a steady move and quicken the pace in the second half of the race. Although our race plan was well executed, I know that there are still key areas that we have to work within. Overall, I'm looking forward to racing my heart out in my last race with these ladies. It's been a hard six weeks of training, and it's a good feeling to know that all of our hard work is truly paying off. We are ready to go into this A final giving it everything we have."
The men's quadruple sculls crew of Andrew Manns (Cherry Hill, N.J./South Jersey Rowing Club), Timothy Parsons (Eugene, Ore./South Eugene Rowing Club), Henry Ramstad (Seattle, Wash./Pocock Rowing Center) and Owen Rulyak (Seattle, Wash./Pocock Rowing Center) finished second in its C/D semifinal to move on to Saturday's C final for overall places 13-18. With three to advance, the U.S. traded the second and third positions with Croatia for most of the race. Serbia had built nearly a three-second lead on the rest of the field by the 1,000-meter mark and were able maintain that advantage over the back half of the race. Serbia finished with a time of 6:18.11, with the U.S. crossing in a 6:20.90. Croatia finished in a 6:22.21. The U.S. will take on crews from Hungary, Egypt, The Netherlands, Serbia and Croatia in tomorrow's C final.
In the women's single sculls, Eva Harris (Sarasota, Fla./Sarasota Crew) finished third in her C/D semifinal, qualifying for Saturday's C final. While Denmark's Clara Maria Cort Hornnaess jumped out to the lead, Moldova's Ecaterina Fedorenco and Harris battled it out for second position through the middle 1,000 meters. Harris took a slight lead on Fedorenco at the midway point, but the Moldovan was able to regain second place over the back half of the race. Hornnaess won with a time of 8:43.09, with Fedorenco finishing in an 8:51.24. Harris clocked an 8:53.62. She will race scullers from Ukraine, Austria, Denmark, Portugal, and Moldova in tomorrow's C final for overall places 13-18.
Bridget Galloway (Ridgefield, Conn./Connecticut Boat Club) and Sophia Greco (Rowayton, Conn./Connecticut Boat Club) finished fourth in the repechage of the women's pair and will race in the B final for overall places 7-9 on Sunday. With two to advance, the duo got off the line in second behind Germany, but the Romanians were able to pass the U.S. as the boats approached the halfway mark. Germany and Romania continued to pull away from the rest of the field, with the Germans holding off a late Romanian charge to win the race in a 7:52.34. The U.S. finished in an 8:03.15 and will take on Spain and Sweden in the B final.
In the men's four, Troy Riesenberger (Sarasota, Fla./Sarasota Crew), Davis Kelly (Vashon Island, Wash./Burton Beach Rowing Club), JJ Dubois (Gainesville, Fla./Sarasota Crew) and Declan Fry (Chicago, Ill./Chicago Rowing Foundation) also finished fourth in their repechage and now will race in the B final for overall places 7-12. With two to advance, the U.S. got off the line in fifth position and was unable to work its way into a qualifying spot. Italy, Germany and Denmark quickly made it a three-boat race. The Italians hit the midway point with a comfortable lead, with Germany and Denmark nearly even for second. In the third 500 meters, Germany pulled away from the Danes to secure the last qualification spot. Italy won the race in a 6:18.49, with Germany crossing in second. The U.S. finished in a 6:35.41.
The women's double sculls crew of Olivia Meskan (Aledo, Ill./Y Quad Cities) and Ella Saunders (North Liberty, Iowa/Y Quad Cities) finished fourth in their C/D semifinal and will race in the D final for overall places 19-23. With the top three finishers advancing to the C final, Meskan and Saunders dropped to fourth off the line and were unable to move into a qualification position. Croatia won the race in a 7:43.39, followed by South Africa and Romania. The U.S. finished with a time of 7:57.98. Meskan and Saunders will race in tomorrow's D final against crews from Zimbabwe, Ukraine, Slovakia and Thailand.
The U.S. had two boats win their preliminary races for lanes ahead of Sunday's finals. The women's four with coxswain of Victoria Grieder (Windermere, Fla./Orlando Area Rowing Society), Julia Veith (Philadelphia, Pa./Whitemarsh Boat Club), Jane Cox (San Diego, Calif./San Diego Rowing Club), Imogen Cabot (Cambridge, Mass./The Winsor School) and Quincy Stone (San Francisco, Calif./Marin Rowing Association) sat just behind Italy at the 500-meter mark before taking a half-second lead entering the back half of the race. The U.S. continued to walk away from the field over the final 1,000 meters, finishing with a time of 7:12.64, nearly five seconds ahead of the Italians. Germany finished third.
"Watching all of our teammates race before us was so exciting and really got us excited to go out and throw down as well," Veith said. "It was so nerve-wracking to be at the start with all the other countries around me, but as soon as we were off, it was exhilarating. We had prepared so much as a boat, so this first race down the course was a long-time coming and felt like a big release of energy. Today's piece was super, super solid. Quincy is a novice, and Imogen has super little experience as well, so just to put our foot on the pedal and execute our race plan was amazing. We played to our strength of having a really strong middle move, and it was exciting to get to see that in action and get ready to improve more going into Sunday."
The five crews will line up again – this time with medals on the line – in Sunday's final.
"This was our bow pair's first sprint race, so we are fortunate to get some experience under our belt before finals," Grieder said. "It is going to come down to execution and mental strength. There is a lot of trust between everyone in the boat. I am looking forward to lining up one last time with them."
Likewise, the women's eight of Lauren Peters (Knoxville, Tenn./Atomic Rowing), Nora Goodwillie (Chicago, Ill./Chicago Rowing Foundation), Sofia Simone (Miami, Fla./Sarasota Crew), Julietta Camahort (San Francisco, Calif./Marin Rowing Association), Mia Levy (Des Moines, Iowa/Andover Crew), Sophia Klessel (Bronxville, N.Y./RowAmerica Rye), Paloma Sequeira (Cambridge, Mass./Community Rowing, Inc.), Cate Van Stone (Philadelphia, Pa./Mount Saint Joseph Academy) and Elsa Hartman (Roseville, Calif./Capital Crew) easily won their race for lanes. The U.S. boat took command of the race in the first 500 meters, jumping out to more than a two-second advantage on Germany. The crew continued to push the pace over the middle half of the race, as Spain passed Germany to move into second. At the line, the American crew crossed in a 6:53.13, 4.52 seconds ahead of Italy. Spain finished third. The five crews will race for the medals on Sunday.
"It was an amazing feeling to be out on the course racing other countries," Peters said. "It felt unreal when they called all the countries' names. It was very exciting. I thought we had a great piece. We all trusted each other, and we were able to execute the plan. We are all very excited for finals. It is so cool to be able to represent the United States"
"My focus is staying relaxed, while still rowing long and aggressive," said Goodwillie of her focus heading into finals. "We want to lay out the best piece that we can."
Two U.S. boats will be racing in semifinals on Saturday for a chance to move on to Sunday's races for the medals.
The men's pair of Emmett Infante (Mountain Lakes, N.J./Row New Jersey) and Wilson Morton (Summit, N.J./Row New Jersey) won their heat on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals. The duo will race against crews from Canada, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland and Lithuania in the second of two semifinals. Germany and Poland finished second in their heats, while the rest of the crews came through the repechages.
Men's single sculler Isaiah Harrison (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) clocked the fastest time of the heats, winning his race by nearly 10 seconds to advance to the semifinals. Harrison will take on scullers from Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, The Netherlands and Moldova in the first of two semis. Lithuania's Povilas Juskevicius is the other heat winner in Harrison's semi, while the Dutch and Italian scullers finished second in their heats.
Additionally, the men's double sculls duo of Clay Rybus (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Sea Base) and Sean Rybus (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Sea Base) will be racing in Saturday's C final for overall places 13-18. The Rybus brothers will take on crews from Moldova, Latvia, The Netherlands, Estonia and Thailand.
Nearly 600 rowers from 43 nations are competing in the five-day regatta. Racing continues on Saturday with the A/B semifinals, as well as the C and D finals. The A and B finals are scheduled for Sunday.
Please visit USRowing's 2021 World Rowing Junior Championships coverage page for athlete bios, daily recaps/previews, photos, race schedule, results and more. The live race tracker and live audio will be available for ALL races on www.worldrowing.com. Live video streaming will be available on the World Rowing website on Saturday and Sunday.
Follow along with the U.S. Under 19 National Team at the by using the hashtags #WRJCHPlovdiv or #WRJCH.
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