NW Briefs: Local rowers advance

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. — Michelle Trannel, Katherine Sweet and Abby Broughton of Seattle's Pocock Rowing Center won their first best-of-three finals in the lightweight women's quadruple sculls Wednesday at the 2006 United States World Championships Trials.

The three rowers joined Pocock's Francis Cuddy (men's double sculls), former University of Washington rowers Kyle Larson and Scott Gault (men's four), Sam Burns (men's pair) and Jonathan Burns (men's single sculls) and Seattle's Portia Johnson (women's four) to be a mere win away from earning a berth on the U.S. national team that will compete at the 2006 FISA World Rowing Championships.

In the lightweight women's quadruple sculls, Trannel, Sweet, Broughton and Anne Fink of Washington, D.C.'s Potomac Boat Club clocked a 6:37.62. Pocock's Liz Patterson, Libby Peters, Rachel Sung and Beth Danhauer finished third with a 6:41.57 to also advance.

In the men's four, Larson and Gault helped the Princeton Training Center to a 6:12.33 victory in the first final of the men's four with coxswain.

Other rowing

Pocock rower Lindsay Meyer (Holy Names) advanced to the semifinals of the women's single sculls with a second-place finish at the 2006 FISA World Rowing Junior Championships in Amsterdam. Michaela Strand (Holy Names) and Tom Kicinski (Vashon Island) advanced in the women's pair and men's eight.

Notes

• Seattle Thunderbirds defenseman Thomas Hickey was selected to play for Canada in the Under-18 World Championships, which will be Aug. 8-12 in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Hickey, 17, is a native of Calgary, Alberta.

• The 27th annual USRowing Masters National Championships will take place Aug. 10-13 on Seattle's Green Lake. The four-day event will feature 108 rowing clubs from across the country, as well as international crews from Canada and Australia.

Compiled from sports-information reports and other sources.