Chula Vista Hosts First Stop on Road to Making 2019 U.S. Senior National Team

The road to making the 2019 U.S. Senior National Team begins today as the first National Selection Regatta of the year gets underway in Chula Vista, Calif. The regatta, which features racing in the men’s and women’s pair, is the first step in making the team that will compete this August at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria.

In the women’s pair, 12 crews from the USRowing Training Center – Princeton are entered in the event, with the winner earning the right to compete at World Rowing Cup I or II. A top-three finish at one of the world cup races would give the crew the option of being named to the national team in the event. In addition, a top-four finish at this NSR earns the athletes an automatic invitation to the women’s national team selection camp for the camp-selected big boats.

The 12-boat field includes six Olympians and 13 members of the 2018 U.S. Senior National Team. Three-time Olympian Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) and 2016 Olympian Tracy Eisser (Fair Lawn, N.J.) won a silver medal in the pair at the 2017 World Rowing Championships and are rowing together again this week. Eisser won gold in the eight at last year’s world championships. Emily Regan (Buffalo, N.Y.), who won gold in the eight at the 2016 Olympics, will be paired with Madeline Wanamaker (Neenah, Wis.) at NSR 1. Regan also won gold last year in the eight, while Wanamaker won gold in the four. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.) is back after taking a couple of years off from international competition. Musnicki will be racing with Brooke Mooney (Peru, Vt.), a newcomer to the national training center who took second in the women’s open event at the 2019 World Rowing Indoor Championships in February. Lauren Schmetterling (Moorestown, N.J.), who won gold in the eight with Regan and Musnicki at the 2016 Olympics, will be racing with Meghan Wheeler (McLean, Va.), while Felice Mueller (Cleveland, Ohio), who raced the pair at the 2016 Olympic Games, will row with Erin Reelick (Brookfield, Conn) this week. Mueller won gold in the eight last year, while Reelick won gold in the four. Vicky Opitz (Middleton, Wis.) and Gia Doonan (Rochester, Mass.) doubled up at the 2018 World Rowing Championships, winning gold in the eight and finishing ninth in the pair. The duo will race together again at NSR 1.

While no world cup selection is up for grabs in the men’s pair in Chula Vista, a top-four finish at the NSR earns the athletes an automatic invitation to the men’s national team selection camp for the camp-selected big boats. Eight crews, including seven from USRowing Training Center – Oakland, are entered in the event. The field includes 12 members of the 2018 Senior National Team and five Olympians.

Olympians Alex Karwoski (Moultonborough, N.H.) and Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn.), who were boatmates in the men’s eight at the 2016 Olympic Games, will race together this week in Chula Vista. Karwoski was part of the men’s eight that finished fourth at the 2018 World Rowing Championships, while Hack is returning after a two-year absence form international racing. Anders Weiss (Barrington, R.I.), who has represented the U.S. in the pair the last three years including at the 2016 Olympics, will row with Dariush Aghai (Skokie, Ill.), who raced in the men’s four in 2018. Michael DiSanto (Boston, Mass.), who raced with Karwoski and Hack in the Olympic eight in 2016 and was part of the fourth-place men’s eight at the 2018 World Rowing Championships, will compete with Andrew Reed (Wayland, Mass.). Reed has raced in the men’s eight at the past two world championships. Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.), who raced in the pair at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and was part of the men’s eight at the 2018 World Rowing Championships, will race with Nick Mead (Strafford, Pa.) this week. Mead was part of the men’s four in 2018.

Racing begins Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. PDT with time trials in the two events. Semifinals will be held Thursday beginning at 9:30 a.m. PDT, with finals taking place on Friday at 9:30 a.m. PDT. There is no racing scheduled for Wednesday.

The 2019 World Rowing Championships will be held August 25-September 1 in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria. This year’s world championships serve as the initial country qualifier for the 2020 Olympic Games.