Last Updated: 21.May.2015

The Outdoor Center's Sprinter and boat trailer have become a bit of a fixture at the Casperson Rowing Center in Princeton, New Jersey over the past 10 days as athletes competed at the second National Selection Regatta and then the Pan American Games Trials. The Pan American Games are held the year prior to the Olympics and are open to athletes from the Americas. This year's Games are in Toronto, Canada and the rowing events will be held in St. Catherines at the site of the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta from July 11th to 15th. Because national team trials are based off of a 4-lane progression, with no lower-level finals, there was plenty of opportunity for high stakes racing for all the Craftsbury boats entered. 

Elizabeth Sonshine and Maggie Fellows continued their trend of close racing, with less than a second separating their two singles every day, regardless of in the time trial, different heats or semifinal. Both advanced to Tuesday's semifinal where Sonshine took the last qualifying spot for Wednesday's final less than a second ahead of Fellows. Sonshine went on to place second in the women's single by just three seconds. 

Erik Frid and Andrew Reed are the two youngest members of the GRP, but they are already making their presence known in the men's double. Erik Frid represented the US last summer in the men's U23 double with the SBTC and was back in action this week with Andrew Reed. The duo had a full slate of racing, earning their trip to the final by winning Monday's repechage. In the final they took third place behind two experienced doubles, with Beijing Olympian Sam Stitt teaming up with Ryan Monaghan to win the event. 

In the lightweight men's double, the field was full of composite entries. Hugh McAdam teamed up with Matt O'Leary and Phil Grisdela raced with Riverside Boat Club's Tobin McGee. Hugh and Matt posted the fastest time of the time trial and won their heat over Grisdela and McGee to advance directly to Wednesday's finals. Grisdela and McGee won their repechage to join the final on Wednesday. Hugh and Matt would come in second to a Cambridge Boat Club/Malta Boat Club composite crew of Austin Meyer and Colin Etheridge, while Grisdela and McGee were 4th. 

While racing is done at Mercer, the summer is just heating up for the Craftsbury group. Soon the summer SBTC program will start up again, with athletes looking to compete at the U23 trials, as well as the USRowing Elite Nationals and Canadian Henley Regatta. For the GRP, Willie Cowles, John Graves and Ben Dann look forward to the World Cup circuit in Italy and Switzerland, while the rest of the squad gears up for the USRowing Senior Team Trials in Mercer at the end of June. Be sure to follow the GRP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and our website to keep up with all the action!

Full results from the Pan American Games Trials are here.