2nd Heats completed at 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials

Credit: US Rowing

2nd Heats completed at 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials

Side-by-side racing got underway Tuesday morning with heats in the women's double sculls and men's quadruple sculls at the second U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Team Trials – Rowing.

Racing in the second heat of the women's double sculls, the Cambridge Boat Club/ARION composite crew of Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass./Princeton University), a 2016 Olympic silver medalist in the women's single sculls, and Kristina Wagner (Weston, Mass./Yale University) held off the Cambridge Boat Club/Sarasota Crew composite boat of Michelle Sechser (Folsom, Calif./University of Tulsa) and Molly Reckford (Short Hills, N.J./Dartmouth College) by about a boat length to win the race and advance to Wednesday's semifinals.

Stone and Wagner, who finished second and third, respectively, in the women's single at the first 2020 Olympic Team Trials, crossed the line in a 7:21.45 to finish 1.7 seconds ahead of Sechser and Reckford, who won the lightweight women's double sculls event at the first trials. The two boats clocked the two fastest time of the heats.

"It was an exciting month and a half," said Wagner about their preparations for this event following the single sculls' trials in February. "It's a great group in Boston, and I'm really grateful to have had the opportunity to train with everyone there – Gevvie, obviously. (Today) was exciting racing; happy to have it done with and get ready for the semi tomorrow."

The USRowing Training Center – Princeton crew of Jenifer Forbes (Baltimore, Md./Northeastern University) and Sophia Vitas (Franklin, Wis./University of Wisconsin) won the first heat with a time of 7:24.54, finishing nearly 13 seconds faster than their nearest competitors. The Boston Rowing Federation/Cambridge Boat Club composite crew of Maggie Fellows (Warwick, Mass./St. Lawrence University) and Cicely Madden (Weston, Mass./Brown University), who posted the top time in yesterday's time trial, won the third heat in a 7:29.89, while New York Athletic Club's Meghan O'Leary (Baton Rouge, La./University of Virginia) and Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich./ University of Michigan), 2016 Olympic finalists in the event, won the fourth heat in a 7:27.05.

The four heat winners advanced to the semifinals, as did the four winners of the afternoon repechages including Sechser and Reckford. The duo easily advanced, winning the third repechage by more than seven seconds in a 7:12.67. The Vesper Boat Club/Green Racing Project composite boat of Cristina Pretto (Prospect, Conn./Trinity College) and Emily Delleman (Davenport, Iowa/Stanford University) recorded the fastest time of the reps, winning a close fourth race by just over one second in a 7:09.34.

In the men's quadruple sculls, the Penn AC/Schuylkill Navy of Philadelphia composite crew of Charles Anderson (Upper Darby, Pa./Temple University), Justin Keen (Philadelphia, Pa./Penn State University), Eliot Putnam (Littleton, Mass./Cornell University) and Sorin Koszyk (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./Cornell University) recorded the fastest time of the morning, winning the second heat in a 6:11.30. The crew, which won yesterday's time trial, finished more than 12 seconds ahead of the second-place boat from the Green Racing Project.

In the first heat, the USRowing Training Center-Oakland entry of Andrew Gaard (Madison, Wis./University of Washington), Michael Knippen (Germantown, Wis. /University of Wisconsin), Spencer Furey (Far Hills, N.J./Dartmouth College), and Oliver Bub (Westport, Conn./Dartmouth College) finished more than five seconds ahead of their nearest competitors. The USTC-Oakland boat finished with a time of 6:13.36. The two heat winners advanced directly to Friday's final, while the remaining crews will race in a repechage on Wednesday.

"We had a good start. We've been feeling good off the blocks, and it was good to execute through the race," Knippen said. "The first 500 (meters) – 750 – of the course was a bit tough conditions wise, but it flattened out for the last 1,000 (meters), and I thought we laid down a good race out there. We're just working on cleaning up the timing every day, improving as a boat, moving together as a crew. Each guy has a little something to work on themselves, and we're all very excited to race on Friday."

While six boat classes are being contested in New Jersey, just four – the women's double sculls, PR1 men's single sculls, PR1 women's single sculls and PR2 mixed double sculls crews – will lock up their spots for Tokyo, pending USOPC approval. The winners of the men's pair and men's quadruple sculls will earn the right to race at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta May 15-17 to try to claim their spots on the Olympic roster.