Day by Day Account of Bret & Nick at World Championships

9/22/02, from Row2K.com

Sevilla, Spain: The men's lightweight quadruple sculls crew of Michael Aller (Santa Barbara, Calif.), Tim Larson (North Augusta, S.C.), John Kennel (Rochester, N.Y.) and Nick Cindrich '97 (Tannersville, Va.) also finished sixth in its final. The crew sat in fourth place at the 500-meter mark but quickly dropped to sixth as the boats reached the midway point of the race. Unfortunately, The U.S. could never mount a challenge for a top three spot in the final 1,000 meters, clocking a 6:01.31 to finish 9.42 seconds behind the gold medalists from Italy. Italy stroked a 5:51.89 to win the gold medal, with Spain taking silver in a time of 5:54.23 and the Netherlands taking bronze in a 5:54.59.

9/20/02, from Row2K.com

Sevilla, Spain: In the men's double sculls, the crew of Steve Gillespie (Renton, Wash.) and Brett Wilkinson '98 (Hyde Park, N.Y.) finished second in its "C" final to place 14th overall. The duo sat in third position at the 1,000-meter mark before overtaking Croatia for second place in the third 500 meters. Gillespie and Wilkinson clocked a 6:20.34 to finish 2.26 seconds behind Norway.

9/18/02, from Row2K.com

Sevilla, Spain: Racing in the second of two repechages, the men's lightweight quadruple sculls crew of Michael Aller (Santa Barbara, Calif.), Tim Larson (North Augusta, S.C.), John Kennel (Rochester, N.Y.) and Nick Cindrich ('97 Tannersville, Va.) finished second behind the Netherlands but still advanced to Sunday's final. The Dutch crew got off the line quickly and held a 1.77-second lead at the 500-meter mark. The U.S boat made some headway in the middle 1,000 meters of the race but was never able to grab the lead. The American crew clocked a 5:59.52 to finish 2.21 seconds behind the Netherlands. In the other repechage, Great Britain and Germany took the top two spots and advanced to the final. The four crews will join heat winners Italy and Spain in the final.

Nick Cindrich '97 (bow), from row2k.com	Brett Wilkinson '98 (bow)

9/17/02 , from Row2K.com

Sevilla, Spain: In the men's double sculls, the crew of Steve Gillespie (Renton, Wash.) and Brett Wilkinson '98 (Hyde Park, N.Y.) just missed qualifying for the semifinals after finishing fourth in its repechage. The duo clocked a 6:19.52 to finish 0.28 seconds behind third place and the final qualifying spot. Gillespie and Wilkinson sat in third at the 500-meter mark before Great Britain began to move through the field. The Brits took third place by the midway point of the race and then passed Austria in the final few meters to overtake second. Meanwhile, the U.S. made a strong push on Austria over the final 500 meters but fell just short of advancing. Germany led the race from start to finish, stroking a 6:15.85 to win the race.

The men's double placed fourth in their rep, although it really looks like the luck of the draw went against them; on the clock their time would have placed 2nd in either of the other two reps, and they same out on the raw end of a blistering photo finish: 2) GBR 6:19.04; 3) AUT 6:19.24; 4) USA 6:19.52.

Brett Wilkinson '98 (bow), In Sevilla	Brett Wilkinson '98 (bow), from row2k.com

Rank		500 m	1000 m	1500 m	Finish
1	GER	01:31.95 (1)	03:05.87 (1)	04:40.63 (1)	06:15.85
2	GBR	01:34.66 (4)	03:09.26 (3)	04:44.87 (3)	06:19.04
3	AUT	01:33.87 (2)	03:08.40 (2)	04:43.99 (2)	06:19.24
4	USA	01:34.25 (3)	03:10.11 (4)	04:45.87 (4)	06:19.52
5	BEL	01:35.04 (5)	03:11.24 (5)	04:49.28 (5)	06:29.48

9/16/02

The 2002 World Rowing Championships began yesterday in Sevilla, Spain. The men's double (with Brett Wilkinson '98 in bow) had it's heat yesterday, and got 4th out of 6. They ended up having the fastest heat, probably due to the obvious dogfight between AUS and FRA. Here's how it broke down (winner to semifinals on Thursday, rest to repechage on Tuesday):

Rank		500 m	1000 m	1500 m	Finish
1	AUS	1:30.63 (1)	3:05.56 (1)	4:43.00 (2)	6:16.01
2	FRA	1:31.17 (2)	3:06.29 (2)	4:42.48 (1)	6:16.14
3	BRA	1:34.69 (5)	3:11.28 (5)	4:47.52 (3)	6:24.79
4	USA	1:34.28 (4)	3:10.61 (4)	4:49.35 (4)	6:26.61
5	GRE	1:35.21 (6)	3:12.00 (6)	4:50.67 (6)	6:30.76
6	ESP	1:33.00 (3)	3:10.20 (3)	4:50.42 (5)	6:36.98

Nick Cindrich '97 just raced his heat in the light men's quad a little while ago. They got 3rd out of 5, also drawing the fastest heat. The results (winner to semifinals on Friday, rest to repechage on Wednesday):

Rank		500 m	1000 m	1500 m	Finish
1	ITA	1:24.46 (1)	2:53.55 (1)	4:25.01 (1)	5:59.33
2	GBR	1:28.15 (2)	2:59.75 (2)	4:31.11 (2)	6:05.26
3	USA	1:29.64 (3)	3:02.22 (3)	4:35.14 (3)	6:08.93
4	ARG	1:30.00 (4)	3:04.67 (4)	4:38.36 (4)	6:12.85
5	JPN	1:30.72 (5)	3:06.43 (5)	4:44.59 (5)	6:22.81