2024 Beach Sprint National Team Trials Get Underway Friday

The 2024 USRowing Beach Sprint National Team Trials get underway Friday, June 28, at South Lido Key Park in Sarasota, Fla. 56 boats from six clubs are slated to race for spots on the team that will represent the U.S. at the 2024 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals this September in Genoa, Italy. Spots are up for grabs in ten events. 

With 11 athletes registered, the junior men's solo event leads the way in entries. Made up exclusively of beach sprint newcomers, the category features four athletes from Next Level Rowing (Ronan Maher, Xavier Sanchez, Leland Angel, Sai Anish Maheshwaram), four athletes from Unity Boat Club, two athletes from Ransom Everglades Crew (Colton Seidel, Nathaniel Pegg), and Connor Gamse of New Trier High School Rowing. All 11 athletes are racing for spots on their first USRowing national team.

Seven scullers are entered in the junior women's solo event, including Next Level Rowing’s Annelise Hahl and Britt Wotovich. Hahl, a two-time beach sprint national team member, won silver in the event at last year’s 2023 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals while Wotovich, a three-time beach sprint national team member, won silver in the under 19 mixed double sculls. The two will face off against Next Level Rowing teammates Mary Bain, Ophelia Weiss, Sarah Harper, and Madilyn Donahue, and New Trier High School Rowing’s Blake Gamse.

Five scullers are entered in the open men’s solo event, including Next Level Rowing's Christopher Bak. A three-time Beach Sprint National Team member, Bak won gold in the event in 2022 but narrowly missed the podium in 2023. This weekend, he’ll face off against Next Level Rowing teammates Luke Eward and Henry Porter, Occoquan Boat Club’s Priit Grabbi, and Guy Weaser (unaffiliated). Edward, alongside Aidan Humbert, raced in the under 19 men's double sculls at the 2023 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, but was eliminated by Ukraine in repechages. 

In the open women’s solo event, Next Level Rowing’s Christine Cavallo and Elizabeth Hinley will race as part of a field of eight, including four Next Level Rowing teammates, Ransom Everglades Crew’s Kathryn Serra, and Unity Boat Club’s Skylar Smith. Cavallo, a seven-time national team member across all levels, won bronze in the event in 2023. Hinley is a Beach Sprint National Team veteran.

With eight total entries, the open mixed double sculls event will feature the returning Next Level Rowing tandem of Cavallo and Kory Rogers. The duo, who won the World Beach Games Continental Qualification Regatta in 2023, will race against five additional Next Level Rowing crews, Ransom Everglades’s Kathryn Serra and Colton Seidel, and one crew representing Unity Boat Club.

Four Next Level Rowing crews are entered in the mixed quadruple sculls event. Malachi Anderson, who won silver in the under 19 men's solo event in 2023, will race alongside Cassidy Norton, who represented the U.S. in the women's solo event in both 2021 and 2022. They’ll be joined by beach sprint newcomer Sierra Bishop and Justin Stevens, who represented the U.S. at both the 2023 World Rowing Coastal Championships and 2022 World Rowing Championships. The second Next Level Rowing crew features Morgan Hummel, who won bronze in the mixed quadruple sculls with coxswain at the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals. Hummel will race alongside Eward, Henry Porter, and Kelli Vandermoer.

The third Next Level Rowing crew will see Hinley teamed up with Olivia Farrar, Cameron Kumagai, and John Olbrys. Olbrys is a two-time beach sprint national team member and won bronze in the quadruple sculls with coxswain in 2021. The fourth Next Level Rowing crew will feature Taylor Brown and Laurel Kaye alongside Alyssa Trebilcock, who represented the U.S. in the mixed double sculls at the 2023 World Rowing Coastal Championships, and Thaddeus Babiec, who represented the U.S. in the men’s eight at the 2019 Pan American Games.

The junior men’s double sculls event also has four entries. Maheshwaram and Angel will team up to represent Next Level Rowing. Pegg and Seidel will join forces to represent Ransom Everglades Crew. Two additional crews will represent Unity Boat Club.

With only two entries, the junior women’s double sculls event will see Annalie Duncomb and Annelise Hahl, who won bronze in the event in 2022, go head-to-head against Next Level Rowing teammates Donahue and Bain.

Three crews are entered in the junior mixed double sculls event: Connor and Blake Gamse of New Trier High School Rowing, Wotovich and Maher of Next Level Rowing, and Weiss and Sanchez of Next Level Rowing. Wotovich won silver in the under 19 mixed double sculls at the 2023 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.

A new event for 2024, four crews are entered in the inclusion PR3 mixed double sculls. Representing Next Level Rowing, Paralympian Danielle Hansen will team up with 2022 Beach Sprint National Team member Gary Rought, while Eward teams up with 2022 Para National Team member Pearl Outlaw. The duos will face off against teammates Amy Pietrafitta and Connor Sawyers, and Porter and Elise Hill, all representing Next Level Rowing. 

Each event opens with a time trial, followed by bracket-style, head-to-head racing. Racing is contested in a run, row, run combination over a 250-meter, out-and-back buoyed course and uses a time trial and knock-out progression system.

Racing is scheduled to run Friday, June 28, through Sunday, June 30. Click HERE for full event information and HERE for live results.