Racing Wraps Up at USRowing’s 2024 Fall Speed Order

Racing concluded on Sunday at USRowing's 2024 Fall Speed Order in West Windsor, N.J. where 58 crews competed over the weekend. The participants included 26 women’s single sculls, 30 men’s single sculls and two women’s pairs. This week's speed order served as an opportunity for rowers to test their speed. The winners of the men’s and women’s single sculling events received Burnham sculling oar bags. 

In the women’s single sculls A Final, Cambridge Boat Club’s Maggie Fellows (Warwick, Mass./St. Lawrence University) claimed victory with a time of 7:45.88, finishing just 1.14 seconds ahead of ARION’s Savannah Brija (Lemont, Ill./Ithaca College). Fellows, a three-time national team member and an alternate for the 2023 World Championships, previously finished ninth in the women’s quadruple sculls at the 2022 World Championships alongside Brija. ARION’s Hannah Paynter (Lyme, Conn./Princeton University) rounded out the top three with a time of 7:52.13. Paynter, an alternate for the 2022 World Championships, earned gold in the pair and mixed eight events at the 2023 Pan American Games. Teal Cohen (Dallas, Texas/University of Washington), the only 2024 Olympian competing for the women’s team, finished fourth in the A Final, followed by Audrey Boersen (West Olive, Mich./Grand Valley State University), who previously competed in the lightweight women’s single sculls at the 2024 World Rowing Championships.

Cambridge Boat Club’s Maggie Fellows (Warwick, Mass./St. Lawrence University) won the women’s single sculls A Final in a time of 7:45.88, just over 1.14 seconds ahead of ARION’s Savannah Brija (Lemont, Ill./Ithaca College). Maggie Fellows is a three-time national team member and was an alternate for the 2023 World Championships and finished ninth in the women’s quadruple sculls at the 2022 World Championships with Savannah Brija. Fellow previously finished second at the 2024 Olympic Trials. ARION’s Hannah Paynter (Lyme, Conn./Princeton University) finished in the top three in a time of 7:52.13, Paynter was an alternate for the 2022 World Championships and won gold in the pair and mixed eight at the 2023 Pan American games. Teal Cohen (Dallas, Texas/University of Washington) was the only 2024 Olympian for the women’s team to compete, Cohen finished fourth in the A Final followed by Audrey Boersen (West Olive, Mich./Grand Valley State University), who competed in the lightweight women’s single sculls at the 2024 World Rowing Championships. 

In the men’s single sculls, NYAC’s Sam Melvin (Huntington Beach, Calif./Columbia University) won both the time trial and the A Final, clocking a time of 7:02.61 on Sunday morning. Penn AC’s Cedar Cunningham (Washington State University) secured second place, while NYAC’s Eliot Putnam (Littleton, Mass./Cornell University) finished third. Putnam previously competed in the men’s single sculls at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. Alexander Hedge (Morristown, N.J./Columbia University), the spare for the Olympic Games, participated in the men’s single sculls and finished third in the B Final.

The women’s pair event concluded with a photo finish between two crews from the Princeton Training Center. Camille VanderMeer (Elmira, N.Y./Princeton University) and Kaitlyn Kynast (Ridgefield, Conn./Stanford University) narrowly edged out Etta Carpender (Denver, Colo./University of Texas) and Holly Drapp (Tampa, Fla./University of Washington) by just 0.76 seconds to win their final.

For complete results, click here. 

USRowing would like to thank our national team sponsors including our Official Boat Supplier for the U.S. Senior, Under 23, and Para Rowing National Teams, Filippi Lido; our Official Apparel Provider, 776BC; our Official Partner, Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc., our Official Boat Supplier for the U.S. Under 19 National Team, Hudson; our Exclusive Supplement Supplier, Thorne HealthTech; our Official Performance Electronics Outfitter, Nielsen-Kellerman; the National Rowing Foundation; and TrainingPeaks, the Official Training and Coaching Software of USRowing's High Performance Team.