U.S. Junior Women’s Eight Makes History at 2008 FISA World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships

LINZ, Austria – The U.S. junior women’s eight made history Saturday at the 2008 FISA World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships, winning the first U.S. gold medal in the junior women’s eight event in the history of the championships, and the second gold medal by a U.S. junior women’s crew. In addition, Cara Linnenkohl won silver in the junior women’s single sculls, while the junior men’s eight took bronze.

In a come-from-behind victory over defending world-champion Romania, the junior women’s eight crew of coxswain Chelsea Lucas (Greenbrae, Calif.), Melisa Ongun (Chicago, Ill.), Erika Roddy (San Francisco, Calif.), Emily Reynolds (Washington, Conn.), Brandy Herald (Portland, Ore.), Cristina Felix (San Marino, Calif.), Martha Kuzzy (Minneapolis, Minn.), Molly Hamrick (Tampa, Fla.) and Anastasia Alexander (Long Beach, Calif.) pulled out a win for the U.S.