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 The Donald sisters competing at U23 trials earlier this season. Photo: Malcolm Donald.
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SBTC strong in Day 1 of U23s22.Jul.2010 Four Craftsbury Small Boat Training Center (SBTC) boats raced at the U23 World Championships in Brest, Belarus, today, as the Championship kicked off with initial heats. Thunderstorms in the afternoon cancelled racing before the schedule could be completed, however, with a number of crews, including Craftsbury athlete Emily Dreissigacker and her women's quadruple scull teammates, postponing their debut until tomorrow. Results were headlined by the Donald sisters in the women's double. Rebecca and Elizabeth, who attend the University of Pennsylvania, won their heat, advancing straight to Saturday's final. After Estonia took an early lead, the sisters kept their composure and hammered into the finish, taking a two-second win over Italy. Their time of 7:30.38, however, would have placed them 4th in the other heat, behind Belarus (the winners in 7:08.04), Germany, and Romania, so the crew has some work to do to prepare for their final. John Graves, a recent Trinity College grad who is in his second summer with the SBTC, finished second in his heat of the men's lightweight single. After rowing in third for most of the race, John moved up a spot. He trailed Belarus by 5 seconds but had a healthy 3-second lead over third-place Switzerland. He also beat boats from China, Japan, and Angola. While he is headed to the repechage rather than the final, he'll have a good start position thanks to his work today. The only other non-winning crews with faster times were France and Germany, so look for them to be John's competition in the next round. The men's straight pair of Hank Moore and Ben Johnson, from Worcester Polytech, finished 5th in their heat behind Canada, Romania, Ukraine, and Italy. They, too, are headed to the repechage, where they will compete against Belarus and Italy for the last two spots in the semifinals. They only need to finish second in this heat of three, but based on times, they have their work cut out for them. Finally, the lightweight men's double of Alex Burjakowski and Nick Trojan were one of the last crews to compete before thunder cut things short. Racing in the third of four heats, the duo started strong in third position before fading to 5th, behind Greece, Denmark, Russia, and Romania. They will compete in the repechage for a spot in the semifinals. Tomorrow, look for results from Emily's W4x heats, as well as the three crews headed to the repechage. Links: Results at WorldRowing.com here Live Timing here USRowing press release for Day 1 here |