USRowing Spring Speed Order Begins Thursday

More than 120 rowers are scheduled to compete at the 2009 USRowing Spring Speed Order beginning Thursday at the Finn M.W. Caspersen Rowing Center on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J. The event will feature single sculls and pairs racing on Thursday and Friday, with the top finishers racing in double sculls and fours on Saturday.

Time trials in the women's single sculls, men's single sculls, lightweight women's single sculls, lightweight men's single sculls, women's pair and men's pair will take place Thursday beginning at 7 a.m. Heats in the four singles events will be held Thursday evening beginning at 5:45 p.m., while finals in all six events will take place Friday beginning at 7 a.m. The top 12 finishers in the singles will then be placed into double sculls combinations, while the top six finishers in the men's pair will be placed into fours. The double sculls and fours races will be held Saturday beginning at 7:30 a.m.

The women's single sculls field has the most entries and will feature 31 rowers including four members of the 2008 Olympic Team. Olympic double sculls partners Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) and Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.) are scheduled to race, as are Jennifer Kaido (West Leyden, N.Y.) and Potomac Boat Club's Margot Shumway (Westlake, Ohio), who were boatmates in the women's quadruple sculls in Beijing. Kalmoe, Tomek and Kaido are three of the 11 USRowing Training Center entries in the event. Cambridge Boat Club's Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.), a two-time Under 23 National Team member, had a strong fall, winning the championship single event at the 2008 Head of the Charles.

The lightweight men's single sculls event has 25 entries including 2008 Olympian Tom Paradiso (Blue Bell, Pa.). The field also includes several members of last year's world championships' squad. Andrew Bolton (Old Lyme, Conn.), who served as an alternate on the 2008 Olympic Team, won gold with Paradiso in the lightweight men's eight at the 2008 FISA World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships in Austria, while Andrew Quinn (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) and Shane Madden (Ambler, Pa.) raced in the lightweight men's quadruple sculls.

Twenty-three scullers are entered in the men's single event including three from the USRowing Training Center. The field includes a few past members of the under 23 national team but no one who raced for the U.S. internationally in 2008. USRowing Training Center's Michael Sivigny (Hudson, N.H.) finished second in the championship single event at the 2008 Head of the Charles.

In the lightweight women's single sculls, 20 rowers are scheduled to race including one member of last year's world championships' squad and one member of the under 23 team. Hannah Moore (Niskayuna, N.Y.) won a bronze medal in the lightweight quadruple sculls at the world championships, while Kristin Hedstrom (Concord, Mass.) raced in the lightweight double sculls at the 2008 FISA World Rowing Under 23 Championships.

Seven boats have entered the men's pair field. The lineups include five Olympians. Olympic bronze medalist Steven Coppola (Buffalo, N.Y.) will race with Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.) in one combination. Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.) and David Banks (Potomac, Md.), who raced with Lanzone in the men's four in Beijing, will be paired up, while Olympic bronze medalist Josh Inman (Hillsboro, Ore.) will race with Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), a gold medalist from the men's eight at last year's under 23 world championships.

All five entries in the women's pair are from the USRowing Training Center. Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.) and Lindsay Shoop (Charlottesville, Va.), who both won Olympic gold last year as members of the women's eight, will race together. Six members of the women's eight that won the gold medal at the 2008 FISA World Rowing Under 23 Championships are also scheduled to race including Katherine Glessner (Seattle, Wash.), Jamie Redman (Spokane, Wash.), Kelsie Chaudoin (Germantown, Tenn.), Suzanne Van Fleet (West Chester, Pa.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Laura Larsen-Strecker (Brookline, Mass.).

USRowing is a nonprofit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States. USRowing's Official Supplier is Hudson Boat Works; its Official Patron is Concept2; its Official Electronics Outfitter is Nielsen Kellerman; its Official Timer is Powerhouse Timing; and its Preferred Printer is Sport Graphics Printing. USRowing also receives generous support from the National Rowing Foundation.

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