First 2009 National Selection Regatta Begins Friday

More than 120 rowers are scheduled to compete at the 2009 USRowing National Selection Regatta #1 April 24-26 at the Finn M.W. Caspersen Rowing Center on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J. 

The event will feature racing in the women’s single sculls, men’s single sculls, lightweight women’s double sculls, lightweight men’s double sculls, women’s pair, men’s pair and lightweight men’s pair. 

For the men’s and women’s single sculls, the regatta serves as the first step towards making the 2009 Senior National Team that will represent the United States at the 2009 FISA World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland. The winner of each event will earn the right to compete at a world cup race of their choosing. If the NSR #1 winner finishes in the top four (or top half if there are fewer than eight entries), then he or she will be nominated to the team. For the remaining boat categories, NSR #1 serves as an opportunity for athletes to test their speed early in the season in preparation for future selection regattas and trials.

The men’s single sculls field has the most entries with 33 rowers scheduled to compete. Five of the scullers represented the U.S. at the 2008 Olympic Games. Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) returns after finishing 11th in the men’s single sculls in Beijing. California Rowing Club’s Scott Gault (Piedmont, Calif.) and USRowing Training Center’s Sam Stitt (McLean, Va.) were boatmates in the men’s quadruple sculls at the Olympics, while California RC’s Elliot Hovey (Manchester-By-The-Sea, Mass.) raced in the men’s double sculls. California RC’s Warren Anderson (Paso Robles, Calif.) served as an alternate on the Olympic team. USRowing TC’s Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.), who won the single at the 2009 USRowing Spring Speed Order earlier this month, is also scheduled to race.

Thirty-one scullers have entered the women’s single sculls race, including six members of the 2008 Olympic Team. Potomac Boat Club’s Margot Shumway (Westlake, Ohio), who stroked the women’s quadruple sculls in Beijing, is coming off a victory in the spring speed order. Olympic double sculls partners Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) and Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.) are both scheduled to race, as is one of Shumway’s Olympic boatmates, Jennifer Kaido (West Leyden, N.Y.). USRowing TC’s Anna Goodale (Camden, Maine) won gold in the women’s eight in Beijing but will be sculling this weekend, as will California Rowing Club’s Brett Sickler (Los Gatos, Calif.), an Olympic alternate. USRowing TC’s Kathleen Bertko (Oakland, Calif.), who finished second behind Shumway at the speed order, is also scheduled to race.

In the men’s pair, nine boats will race including seven from the USRowing Training Center. Olympians scheduled to participate include Josh Inman (Hillsboro, Ore.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.), Steven Coppola (Buffalo, N.Y.), Cameron Winklevoss (Greenwich, Conn.), Tyler Winklevoss (Greenwich, Conn.), Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.), David Banks (Potomac, Md.), Dan Walsh (Norwalk, Conn.) and Beau Hoopman (Plymouth, Wis.). Inman, Coppola, Walsh and Hoopman won bronze medals in the men’s eight in Beijing, while Banks, Lanzone and Newlin raced in the men’s four. The Winklevoss brothers finished sixth in the men’s pair at the Olympics.

Six boats have entered the women’s pair race. Four members of the women’s eight that won Olympic gold in Beijing will race in the event including Erin Cafaro (Modesto, Calif.), Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.), Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.) and Lindsay Shoop (Charlottesville, Va.). Cafaro and Francia will race together, as will Lind and Shoop. 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.).

The lightweight women’s double sculls field also includes six boats. Kristin Hedstrom (Concord, Mass.), who won the lightweight double sculls with a different partner at the spring speed order, will race with Michelle Trannel (East Dubuque, Ill.). Meghan Sarbanis (Hampstead, N.H.) and Nicole Nelson (Santa Rosa, Calif.) finished second in the spring speed order and will be racing together this weekend.

Four crews have entered the lightweight men’s double sculls including the duo of Jonathan Winter (New Haven, Conn.) and Shane Madden (Ambler, Pa.), who won the event at the spring speed order.

Likewise, the lightweight men’s pair has four entries. Will Daly (Vail, Colo.) is the lone Olympian scheduled to race. Daly competed in the lightweight men’s four in Beijing. Matt Muffelman (Mathews, Va.), who won gold with Daly in the lightweight eight at the 2008 FISA World Senior and Junior Rowing Championships, will also compete.

Racing begins Friday at 7 a.m. with time trials in all seven events. Heats in the two single sculls events will be held Friday evening beginning at 6:30 p.m. Semifinals in the two single sculls and the men’s pair, as well as the final of the women’s pair, will be held Saturday starting at 7 a.m. Finals in the remaining events will be held Sunday starting at 7 a.m.

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