Willie Cowles wins men's heavyweight single at NSR II
Last Updated: 14.May.2015
After a short trip back to Vermont, Craftsbury was back on the water at the second National Selection Regatta in Princeton, NJ to compete for a chance to send athletes to the World Cup circuit this summer. The GRP had athletes competing in the men’s and women’s open single sculls, as well as the men’s quad and the men’s lightweight double. The winners of all today’s events have the opportunity to either go to the second World Cup in Varese, Italy from June 19th-21st or the third World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland from July 10th-12th. If the US representative there places in the top 7 (or top 50% of events with less than 12 entries,) then they clinch their spot on the 2015 Senior National Team that will compete at the World Championships in Aiguebelette, France from August 29th to September 6th. With Olympic qualification on the line at this year’s World Championships, stakes are high for our national team hopefuls.
Willie Cowles was first to the line for the GRP after winning his time trial on Tuesday evening by 5 seconds. Cowles is a recent addition to the GRP, joining this spring on the team’s training trip to Clemson, where he has made an immediate impact on the group. Willie controlled the race to win by nearly 10 seconds over Craftsbury SBTC alum and former teammate at PBC, Lenny Futterman.
The next event up was the women’s single scull, where Elizabeth Sonshine and Maggie Fellows have been neck and neck all season. Doubles partners at the first NSR, the two women were close in side by side racing, with less than a second separating them both in their semifinal and in today’s A final. Gevvie Stone, 2012 Olympian and last year’s single sculler won the event while Sonshine and Maggie were 3rd and 4th respectively. The two women now look forward to competing in the single in the Pan American Games Trials to be held from this upcoming Sunday the 17th to Wednesday the 20th.
The men’s quad was a bit of a rematch for last year’s race against California Rowing Club. Last year Craftsbury won this matchup and went on to win a bronze medal at the third World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. This year’s lineup was much the same, with John Graves, Ben Dann and Peter Graves. The one change has been a switch of Tom Graves for Steve Whelpley, who has been out with injuries. While Craftsbury won the time trial on Monday by 5 seconds, California was able to turn the tables today with a strong second 1,000 meters that carried them to a 4 second victory over the GRP. John Graves and Ben Dann have the opportunity to race the men’s heavyweight double for the US at this summer’s World Cups and try to earn their berth on the World Championships squad this way. If California Rowing Club does not clinch their World Championships spot through their racing at the World Cups then the event will be open to the USRowing Senior Team trials from August 2nd to August 5th.
The men’s lightweight double is always an extremely competitive event as it is one of two Olympic events for the lightweight men. This year GRP alum Josh Konieczny has been rowing with Cambridge Boat Club’s Andrew Campbell as a part of the Boston Rowing Federation under coach Scott Roop. The duo set their mark on the event in the US, winning by 17 seconds over another Craftsbury alum, Austin Meyer and his teammate Colin Etheridge. GRP member Hugh McAdam was just half a second behind them in third place with his doubles partner Matt O’Leary. Both 2nd and 3rd place doubles will be racing at the Pan American Games trials this weekend, along with Phil Grisdela.
With the National Selection Regattas in the books, it’s back to Craftsbury for some of the group to gear up for the World Cups, and for others it’s onto the Pan American Games trials. Erik Frid and Andrew Reed will join the group in Princeton as they compete for the men’s heavyweight double.
Find full results here, as well as a photo gallery from Row2k here. Go Green!