Eisser and Kalmoe, Mead and Peszek Victorious

Credit: US Rowing

Eisser and Kalmoe, Mead and Peszek Victorious

Tracy Eisser (Fair Lawn, N.J.) and Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) won the women’s pair final Friday morning at the 2019 National Selection Regatta I in Chula Vista, Calif., while Nick Mead (Strafford, Pa.) and Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.) took the men’s pair final.

With their victory, Eisser and Kalmoe, who won silver in the event at the 2017 World Rowing Championships, earned the right to compete at World Rowing Cup I or II. A top-three finish at one of the two world cup races would give the crew the option of being named to the national team in the women’s pair.

“I think the week went really well,” Eisser said. “We were not entirely sure what to expect coming into the week, so we just tried to approach each race as a place to build off of where we were. I feel we were able to make some steps from the time trial to the semifinals to the finals. Everyone here did a really great job. The level of racing was really, really high. The team as a whole is doing really well and everybody is pushing. We just wanted to be a part of that.”

In Friday’s final, Erin Reelick (Brookfield, Conn.) and Felice Mueller (Cleveland, Ohio) got off the line quickly, but Eisser and Kalmoe were able to pull through during the base part of the race to take the lead. Eisser and Kalmoe continued to increase their advantage, crossing the finish line in a 7:14.65, more than four seconds ahead of Reelick and Mueller in second position.

“(Today) was the first time that we had raced Erin and Felice side-by-side,” Eisser said. “Since they had won the other semifinal, we knew that they were going to be really fast. They also had a really great start, so we kind of anticipated that they were going to jump up on us and that we were going to have to work our way back through the pack, but it was really good. The weather has been great and the water has been awesome, so not having that as a concern was really nice. I was just happy that we were able to go out and execute our plan.”

Emily Huelskamp (Sainte Genevieve, Mo.) and Allyson Baker (North Royalton, Ohio) finished third, with Kristine O’Brien (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) and Molly Bruggeman (Dayton, Ohio) crossing in fourth position. The top four finishers earned automatic invitations to the women’s national team selection camp for the camp-selected big boats.

“Everybody has been trying to have the best race that they can and work within their combination,” Eisser said. “We’ve been training as a group in all different kinds of combinations the whole time we’ve been out here. I think for most people this was their first chance to race a full 2k in their pairing. It’s a really tough group. We’ve been training really hard and everyone’s been doing a great job, always pushing each other to be better because we know that’s what we need to do to be fast.”

On the men’s side, Mead and Peszek held off Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn.) and Alex Karwoski (Moultonborough, N.H.) by about a half-deck to earn the victory. Mead and Peszek crossed the line in a 6:38.05, with Hack and Karwoski finishing in a 6:38.30.

“Today was intense,” Peszek said. “It kind of went almost as we expected. A couple of boats were really quick off the line and shot out like a cannon. All the way down the course it felt like it was bow balls trading back and forth the whole way. We knew we had a pretty solid base speed and rhythm, so we knew going into the race we were going to live or die by that. We had just an incredible finishing sequence against Hack and Karwoski. I don’t know how we snuck out ahead of those guys. Their sprint was amazing. I’m thrilled we were able to rise to the challenge.”

Tom Dethlefs (Lawrenceville, N.J.) and Conor Harrity (Weston, Mass.) finished third, followed by Andrew Reed (Wayland, Mass.) and Michael DiSanto (Boston, Mass.) in fourth.

“Racing this week has been great,” Peszek said. “I’ve been loving running with Nick. He’s just a workhorse, so it’s always fun to sit back there and let him do his thing. I always feel like I’m just trying to get out of his way and let him go win races, so it’s been a blast.”

While no world cup selection was up for grabs in the men’s pair in Chula Vista, a top-four finish at the NSR earned the athletes an automatic invitation to the men’s national team selection camp for the camp-selected big boats.

“It feels like this is kind of the formal kickoff to selection,” Peszek said. “We’re kind of always in selection one way or another, but this is the real start of it. On an individual level, everyone was going into this trying to establish themselves and their position, but I think the broader point of view is that we’re looking to assess ourselves as a team. We’re looking to see how fast we can make our full squad go. Looking at the times, the results and how competitive and deep we are, I’m pretty excited for us as a team.”