GRP and SBTC Compete at U23/Senior Trials I

Lightweight Men's Quad - Austin Meyer, Colin Etheridge, Matt O'Leary, Hugh McAdam

U23 Men's Double - Ned Benning and Taylor Beach

Last Updated: 30.Jun.2015

At the beginning of last week the Green Racing Project and Small Boat Training Center competed for the opportunity to represent the United States at the Senior and U23 World Rowing Championships this summer.

These trials contested seven Senior Team and 15 U23 Team events. Phil Henson (Somerset, NJ) and Hugh McAdam (Grantham, NH) represented the Green Racing Project at the senior level, vying for the lightweight men’s eight and lightweight men’s quad, respectively. The SBTC was entered in 6 events: the men’s single, lightweight men’s single, women’s single, lightweight women’s single, women’s double, and men’s double.

Both Henson and McAdam raced their trials uncontested, going down the course with no other boats on the day of the finals. With their trials wins, Henson and McAdam both made their first Senior National Teams and will be competing at the World Rowing Championships August 30-September 6 in Aiguebelette, France.

Henson will be rowing with a composite crew of Matthew Lenhart (Lafayette, CA), Dave Smith (Seattle, WA), Jack Devlin (Arlington, VA), Alex Twist (Seattle WA), Chistopher Lambert (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Peter Schmidt (Providence, RI), Tobin McGee Rye, NY), and coxswain Jack Carlson (Weston, MA).

McAdam’s quad is also rowing with a composite crew that includes Austin Meyer (Cohoes, NY), Colin Ethridge (Laytonsville, MD), and Matt O’Leary (Westwood, MA).

The SBTC had all athletes in at least one final and in some cases two.

The day of the finals started out with SBTC’s Ben Davison (Inverness, FL) winning the U23 men’s single. Davison finished with a time of 7:01.1, in front of former SBTC rower Michael Clougher (Canton, MA), current SBTC rower Ned Benning (Weston, MA), and the single sculler from Vesper.

In the U23 women’s single, Kristina Wagner (Weston, MA) finished second behind Jacksonville’s Mary Ann McNulty (Jacksonville, FL).

With no heats or semis, the U23 women’s double had a long wait before the finals. The double of Shiann Gardner (Cambridge, MA) and Maddie Pont (Menlo Park, CA) placed second 2014 SBTC athlete Mary Carmack (Veazie, ME) and Megan Goodman (Pleasanton, CA), who were rowing unaffiliated. The crew of Carmack and Goodman traveled north to Vermont after their trials victory and will be preparing for U23 World Championships in Craftsbury.

The U23 lightweight men’s single final featured SBTC’s Taylor Beach (Camarillo, CA), who finished third, behind the winner Hector Formoso-Murias (Key Biscayne, FL).

Placing second in the U23 lightweight women’s single was SBTC’s Beatrix Tobey (New Canaan, CT). Winner of the event was Cambridge Boat Club’s Helena Randle (Brookline, MA).

The surprise performance of the day came from the U23 men’s double. After a full four days of racing in the U23 men’s single and lightweight single, Benning and Beach joined forces in the double’s final. The two won the event with a time of 6:47.64, in front of crews from Potomac Boat Club and Occoquan Boat Club.

See official results here.

In the coming weeks the U23 men’s single, men’s double and women’s double will be training for the U23 World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, July 22-26.