Dear Potomac Boat Club,
Today concluded the first day of the USRowing Summer National Championships on Mercer Lake, outside of Princeton, New Jersey. This year the regatta includes only senior-level and U23 events, with the U19s being spun-off to a separate regatta in Oak Ridge, Tennessee next week.
Since April I have had the privilege of coaching PBC's High Performance Program, and since late May, of coaching a portion of the summer U23 program athletes who have the ability and inclination to train with the HPP each morning. All of the athletes involved have put in lot of work, suffered through tough workouts, and are now wearing our favorite red jersey with white star as they come down the race course. To the broader PBC community that has supported the HPP and the summer U23 programs, thank you for all you have done to make it possible for these athletes to race and compete at this level!
For the HPP, Jim Gallagher and Andrew Weinstein are racing in the lightweight men's single, which is a National Team trials event. Both athletes advanced out of today's time trial and will compete in the semi-finals on Thursday morning. For Jim, this was his first 2k in a single scull since 2012, and his spot in the semi-final was hard earned and well deserved.
For our U23 athletes, Annika Gromek (Old Dominion University) finished 4th in the U23 women's single time trial, out of field of 17, easily moving on to her semi-final. Annika raced at the U23 national team trials in Sarasota, Florida last month. That event was tremendous learning opportunity for her, and it is clear she put to work the lessons learned from that experience here in New Jersey today. Annika also raced the U23 women's double with Nora Hemsley, (Holton-Arms HS., enroute to Boston University) and qualified out of a deep field for the semi final in that event tomorrow. Annika had about an hour between races this morning, and showed tremendous poise and confidence as she and Nora came through for the semi-final. They were joined in the women's U23 double time trial by Erin Barry (Williams College) and Liz May (Notre Dame). In the men's single, Thomas Kolnik (Georgetown University) advanced to his semi-final out of a field of 20 scullers. In the men's U23 double, identical twin brothers Barringer and Grigsby Lovaas (Boston University) qualifed for their semi final. They were joined in this event by Elijah Choos (Georgetown U.) and Bill Stavropoulos (Georgetown U.).
Finally, joining our contingent of Potomac Boat Club scullers is a men's U23 4+ from the Men's Sweep Team. Braden Barnett, Ian Forrer, Maxwell Frey, and Aidan Ortiz, along with coxswain Matthew Yoon finished second in their time trial.
Racing starts at 8am on Thursday with the lightweight men's single. Also, in addition to semi-finals in the women's U23 single and double and the men's U23 double, PBC will be represented in the men's double and the men's U23 quad. Both races are final-only. The double will see Thomas Kolnik paired up with Air Force 2nd Lieutenant Thomas Callaghan (Notre Dame), and the Lovaas brothers will be in the quad with Elijah Choos and Hagan Ausmann (Southern Methodist U.).
More news to come!
-Rick