Seven Crews Earn National Team Berths on Wednesday in Sarasota

SARASOTA, Fla. – Seven more crews – six junior boats and one under 23 boat – earned national team berths on Wednesday at Nathan Benderson Park.

With 14 crews being selected yesterday in the Under 23 National Team Trials, the lightweight men's single sculls was the lone remaining U23 boat to be selected today. Oak Neck Academy's Nicholas Aronow (Laurel Hollow, N.Y.), who represented the U.S. in the single sculls at the 2019 World Rowing Junior Championships, easily won the final. Aronow clocked a 7:09.73 to defeat Vesper Boat Club's Joseph Wilbur (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) by more than 10 seconds.

Aronow and yesterday's winners will now represent the U.S. at the 2021 World Rowing Under 23 Championships July 7-11 in Racice, Czech Republic.

In Wednesday's racing in the Under 19 National Team Trials, six crews earned the right to compete at the 2021 World Rowing Junior Championships scheduled for August 11-15 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

In the junior men's single sculls, Isaiah Harrison (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) defeated Y Quad Cities' Tristan Wakefield (Davenport, Iowa) by a little more than five seconds, finishing with a time of 7:12.92. The victory concluded a busy week in Sarasota for Harrison. In addition to racing in the U19 trials, Harrison finished second in the single at the U23 trials yesterday. He also won the gold medal at the USRowing Youth National Regatta on Sunday. Wakefield won the bronze medal in the single at youth nationals.

Sarasota Crew's Eva Harris (Sarasota, Fla.) easily won the final of the junior women's single sculls. Harris, who won a silver medal in the event at youth nationals, crossed the line in an 8:12.39, nearly 13 seconds ahead of Oak Neck Academy's Catherine Barry (Oyster Bay Cove, N.Y.)

In the junior women's double sculls, Y Quad Cities' Ella Saunders (North Liberty, Iowa) and Olivia Meskan (Aledo, Ill.) won their final in a 7:30.64, finishing just over five seconds ahead of the GMS Rowing Center crew. Saunders and Meskan were part of the Y Quad Cities quadruple sculls boat that won gold at youth nationals on Sunday.

"We had just come off of racing and winning the quad at youth nats, so we were pretty excited, pretty hyped up to race again," Saunders said. "We haven't raced (a lot) in the double lately. We've been pretty focused on the quad, so we went into it just knowing that we work well together in the boat and we were excited to see what happened out here."

In the junior men's double sculls, Newport Sea Base's Sean and Clay Rybus (Newport Beach, Calif.) took the race by just under six seconds over Malvern Prep, clocking a 6:44.57. The duo finished fifth in the event at youth nationals.

The closest race of the day came in the junior men's pair, where Row New Jersey's Emmett Infante (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) and Wilson Morton (Summit, N.J.) edged out the Princeton National Rowing Association/Mercer crew of Joseph DiRusso (Princeton Junction, N.J.) and Andrew Griesinger (Belle Mead, N.J.) by a bow ball. Row New Jersey finished in a 6:52.53, with PNRA/Mercer crossing in a 6:52.65. The four rowers faced off against each other in the men's eight at youth nationals, with the Row New Jersey rowers winning silver medals and the PNRA/Mercer rowers winning bronze.

Connecticut Boat Club's Bridget Galloway (Ridgefield, Conn.) and Sophia Greco (Rowayton, Conn.) won the junior women's pair in a 7:42.48, finishing more than eight seconds ahead of RowAmerica Rye's Catherine Williams (Rye, N.Y.) and Eleanor Smith (Rye, N.Y.). Galloway and Greco won gold in the event at youth nationals, while Williams and Smith won silver in the eight.

USRowing has been hosting national team trials all week in Sarasota and will switch from the rowing course at Nathan Benderson Park to South Lido Key Beach on Saturday for the Beach Sprints National Team Trials.

Twenty-eight crews are entered across eight events, four open and four junior, at the Beach Sprints Trials. This is the first year that USRowing will select a team to race at the World Rowing Beach Sprints Finals, which are scheduled to take place September 24-26 in Oeiras, Portugal. The national team trials open with a time trial, followed by a bracket-style, head-to-head racing format. Saturday's Beach Sprints racing is slated to start at 8:30 a.m.

In total, more than 140 athletes have been racing this week for the chance to represent the U.S. later this year at one of the three regattas.