Four Crews Earn World Cup Berths on Final Day of 2022 USRowing National Selection Regatta 2

Four crews secured World Rowing Cup 2 berths on Friday at the 2022 USRowing National Selection Regatta 2 at Lake Mercer in West Windsor, N.J.

The winners of the men's and women's pairs and double sculls earned the right to race at the World Rowing Cup in Poznan, Poland, where a top six finish, or top 50 percent finish if there are fewer than 12 entries, will earn the athletes the opportunity to represent the U.S. in the event at the 2022 World Rowing Championships in Racice, Czech Republic. The crews have until 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 7, to accept their opportunities.

In the women's pair, USRowing Training Center – Princeton's Claire Collins (McLean, Va./Princeton University) and Madeleine Wanamaker (Neenah, Wis./University of Wisconsin) crossed the line a little over a length ahead of USTC-Princeton teammates Charlotte Buck (Nyack, N.Y./Columbia University) and Jessica Thoennes (Highlands Ranch, Colo./University of Washington). Collins and Wanamaker finished with a time of 7:13.09, 3.68 seconds ahead of Buck and Thoeness. USTC-Princeton's Kelsey Reelick (Brookfield, Conn./Princeton University) and Allyson Baker (North Royalton, Ohio/The Ohio State University) finished third in a 7:19.82.

"It's definitely good to seal the deal and have a good race," Wanamaker said. "It was a great day. World Cup in the pair is first on the docket, so we'll see how it goes. That was kind of the goal. I've been having a great time rowing with Claire, and I think we like the partnership together. It's great that we are in position now that we can do that.

"That was awesome (to see six training center boats in the final). I feel like we've had really great comradery this whole training session, so it was really fun to see everyone make the final and have a good race."

In the men's pair, California Rowing Club's Justin Best (Kennett Square, Pa./Drexel University) and Michael Grady (Pittsburgh, Pa./Cornell University) defeated Craftsbury Green Racing Project's Alexander Hedge (Morristown, N.J./Columbia University) and Ezra Carlson (Eureka, Calif./University of Washington) by more than four seconds to claim the victory. Best and Grady clocked a 6:37.45 ahead of Hedge and Carlson's 6:41.91. CRC's Andrew LeRoux (Venice, Fla./Princeton University) and Michael Knippen (Germantown, Wis./University of Wisconsin) finished third in a time of 6:43.40.

"I was really happy with our game plan and our execution of that game plan," Best said. "We did exactly what we wanted to do. The first (200) meters, we put our bow ball in front. We had a pretty energetic and strong start, so we wanted to capitalize on that. We took control of the race pretty early on, and we just maintained a solid base rhythm to keep us out in front.

"Each call Grady made, the boat responded. It was an exciting race, and I'm looking forward to (continue) rowing with Grady and see where it goes."

In the women's double sculls, Texas Rowing Center's Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif./University of California, Berkeley) and Sophia Vitas (Franklin, Wis./University of Wisconsin) held off the crew of Sophia Luwis (The College of William and Mary) and Audrianna Boersen (Grand Valley State University) to win the final by less than one second. Kohler and Vitas finished with a time of 7:01.36, with Luwis and Boersen crossing in a 7:02.12. ARION's Hannah Paynter (Lyme, Conn./Princeton University) and Kristi Wagner (Weston, Mass./Yale University) held off Cambridge Boat Club's Emily Kallfelz (Jamestown, R.I./Princeton University) and Mary Jones Nabel (Huntsville, Ala./University of Tennessee) for third place by less than a half-second, finishing in a 7:07.01.

"We have some mixed feelings about the race," Kohler said. "We definitely feel like we can be a lot faster. We got matched up against two really fast lightweights – heavyweights. A really good job to them for a great regatta. We definitely feel like we have more speed in us, but we're excited that we got the win."

In the men's double sculls, Texas Rowing Center's Kevin Cardno (Huntsville, Ala./University of Alabama, Huntsville) and Jonathan Kirkegaard (Philadelphia, Pa./Purdue University) earned the victory over the Vesper Boat Club/Craftsbury Green Racing Project composite crew of Dominique Williams (Madison, Conn./University of Pennsylvania) and Jacob Plihal (Vashon Island, Wash./Northeastern University) by just under two seconds. Cardno and Kirkegaard finished with a time of 6:23.40, while Williams and Plihal crossed in a 6:25.26. California Rowing Club's Chris Carlson (Bedford, N.H./University of Washington) and Ben Davison (Inverness, Fla./University of Washington) finished third in a time of 6:27.35.

"We've been working on some stuff with the lightweights back home and today was just about executing that," said Cardno. "We kind of know what we can do, and (when) we just get out of our own way, we tend to do a little better than when we think about it too much."

Texas Rowing Center's Zachary Heese (Pelham, N.Y./University of Virginia) and Jasper Liu (Phoenix, Ariz./University of Pennsylvania), who won the lightweight men's double sculls earlier in the week, finished fourth.

"We know in international racing at world cups and world championships that there are going to be boats that are faster than us, so that's how we treated this – just like a final or a semifinal of a world cup race and trying to put down the best piece we can and try to beat some crews," Liu said. "Our focus turns to World Rowing Cup 2 in Poznan."

In addition to the lightweight men's double sculls, the lightweight women's double sculls final was raced earlier in the week. Sarasota Crew's Michelle Sechser (Folsom, Calif./University of Tulsa) and Molly Reckford (Short Hills, N.J./Dartmouth College) won the uncontested race to earn the right to race in Poznan.

"Being back racing is always exciting," Reckford said on Tuesday. "Time trials like this – it was a new experience for us. We've always had this pressure of, 'it's do or die; it's do or die,' so coming out was a new challenge today to try to find that fire and to really race hard in conditions where there is nobody next to you, pushing you. We're going to keep working and keep finding speed. Now we really get to focus on the World Cup in Poland."

Click here for today's complete results.

The 2022 World Rowing Championships are scheduled for September 18-25 in Racice, Czech Republic.