Three separate USRowing selection events are scheduled for April 10-12, including National Selection Regatta II, Non-Qualified Small Boat Olympic Trials and 2012 Paralympic Trials – Rowing.
In all, five events will be contested – four of them in non-qualified events, including the women single sculls, men’s and women’s double sculls and lightweight men’s double sculls.
In the qualified event, the lightweight women’s double sculls, 10 crews will compete for the opportunity to go to Europe for the first two world cup stops. If that crew finishes in the top four, it will be named to the team. If it does not, the boat class will be included in the 2012 Olympic Trials – Rowing scheduled for June 11-14 in West Windsor, N.J.
Among those competing in the event will be California Rowing Club’s entry of Julie Nichols and Kristin Hedstrom, Lake Union Crew’s Ursula Grobler and Hillary Saeger , the Vesper Boat Club/Penn Athletic Club composite entry of Jennifer Goldsack and Jennette Daley, Oklahoma City's entry of Chelsea Smith and Michelle Sechser and Pocock Rowing Center’s Katherine Robinson and Lindsey Hochman.
Nichols and Hedstrom finished fourth in the event at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Slovenia and won the overall World Rowing Cup points trophy last summer. Smith and Sechser teamed up at the 2011 Pan American Games to win a bronze medal in the event.
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| Smith and Sechser |
The men’s double sculls is the largest subscribed event with 11 crews competing, including two from the USRowing Training Center – Chula Vista and two from the Oklahoma City National High Performance Center. Entered in the Chula Vista boats are Elliot Hovey and Alex Osborne, as well as Warren Anderson and Wes Piermarini. Entered in the OKC boats are Ryan Shelton and Martin Etem along with Pat Close and Max Goff.
Hovey and Piermarini finished 13th in the event at the 2008 Olympic Games and were members of the men’s quad that finished eighth at the 2010 World Rowing Championships. Anderson, a Beijing alternate, returns after a second-place finish in the men’s single at NSR I last month.
In the lightweight men’s double sculls, 10 crews will row for a shot at the Olympic qualifier, including Oklahoma City’s Austin Meyer with GMS' Jon Winter.
Racing begins April 10 at 9:00 a.m. PDT with time trials in the lightweight women’s double. USRowing will live stream A and B finals for this event online at http://www.ustream.tv/usrowing beginning 9:00 a.m. PDT on April 12.
Race schedule and results will be available at www.usrowing.org.
