USRowing Under-23 Trials Blog: Entry 4
7/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
Rising seniors Sarah Gribler (Marysville, Wash./Marysville-Pilchuk) and Ashley Kroll (Edmonds, Wash./Kamiak) are preparing for the FISA World Rowing Under-23 Championships after being named to the U.S. roster on July 13. The duo spent the spring in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where they attended the USRowing 2009 Under-23 National Team Camp. They then made their final bid to make Team USA at the USRowing Under-23 World Championships Trials, July 6-10, in West Windsor, N.J. Having enjoyed success at the trials, Kroll and Gribler have nine days before the under-23 championships begin in Racice, Czech Republic on July 23-26. Gribler and Kroll have been blogging about their experiences; Gribler sheds light on what it means to make the national under-23 team.
Since coming to New Jersey we have had to make a lot of selection choices and, more importantly, qualify for worlds. After some seat racing, some hard pieces and emotional days I have made the straight four. So last week we had a very important task ahead of us, qualify for worlds. Unlike the eight and the quad, the straight four has to go through a race called trials. With only a few days to prepare our four got better and better each day. We didn't necessarily like rowing at a high stroke rating, but we had all the power in the world, so going into the race we decided to keep it low and just power through the race. During the few days at Mercer Lake there was quite a tail wind, but unfortunately for us on race day the wind turned and gave us a strong head wind. We had good confidence that if we kept it long and strong we were going to pull away from the two other boats we were racing. We came off the line pretty even with one of the boats, but after 500 meters we could hear the girls yelling and getting flustered and we just started to move away and never looked back. We finished eight seconds ahead and earned ourselves a ticket to worlds. After some celebrating, we knew that we had much to do to prepare for a medal at worlds, so we got back to work. Since the race we have put in a lot of miles together and everyday feels different and better. We are leaving for Racice, Czech Republic, on Saturday the 18th. In the straight four we have 11 entries, and have the first race of the day is on July 23rd, 9:30 a.m., Czech time, 3:30 a.m. Ann Arbor time! Ashley Kroll is doing her thing in the eight and we both are very excited to join our U-M teammates, Emily Eiffert and Cristina Felix, in the double and Caitlin Trumble in the Canadian eight. The Maize and Blue will be strongly represented over in the Czech!
Entry 3(6/30/09) | Entry 2(6/23/09) | Entry 1(6/16/09)
Since coming to New Jersey we have had to make a lot of selection choices and, more importantly, qualify for worlds. After some seat racing, some hard pieces and emotional days I have made the straight four. So last week we had a very important task ahead of us, qualify for worlds. Unlike the eight and the quad, the straight four has to go through a race called trials. With only a few days to prepare our four got better and better each day. We didn't necessarily like rowing at a high stroke rating, but we had all the power in the world, so going into the race we decided to keep it low and just power through the race. During the few days at Mercer Lake there was quite a tail wind, but unfortunately for us on race day the wind turned and gave us a strong head wind. We had good confidence that if we kept it long and strong we were going to pull away from the two other boats we were racing. We came off the line pretty even with one of the boats, but after 500 meters we could hear the girls yelling and getting flustered and we just started to move away and never looked back. We finished eight seconds ahead and earned ourselves a ticket to worlds. After some celebrating, we knew that we had much to do to prepare for a medal at worlds, so we got back to work. Since the race we have put in a lot of miles together and everyday feels different and better. We are leaving for Racice, Czech Republic, on Saturday the 18th. In the straight four we have 11 entries, and have the first race of the day is on July 23rd, 9:30 a.m., Czech time, 3:30 a.m. Ann Arbor time! Ashley Kroll is doing her thing in the eight and we both are very excited to join our U-M teammates, Emily Eiffert and Cristina Felix, in the double and Caitlin Trumble in the Canadian eight. The Maize and Blue will be strongly represented over in the Czech!
Entry 3(6/30/09) | Entry 2(6/23/09) | Entry 1(6/16/09)
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