Goodale Invited to U.S. Pre-Elite Camp
6/7/2004 4:02:44 PM | Women's Rowing
SYRACUSE, N.Y. --
Orange junior Anna Goodale (Camden, Maine/Camden Hills Regional) was one of 12 rowers in the nation to be invited to the U.S. National Team Pre-Elite Camp in Princeton, N.J. The camp runs from June 6 through July 12 with the top four rowers making up the boat that will head to the U.S. Trials to compete for a chance at qualifying for the World Championship."I’m very shocked and excited," Goodale said. "It’s an honor just to be invited."
Goodale, a CRCA second-team All-American, was scheduled to go to Amsterdam with teammate Ali Forsyth on Saturday, May 29. The pair had planned to spend the summer competing for a rowing club in the Neatherlands. That all changed with one phone call the day before the two were supposed to leave.
"It turned my world upside down," Goodale said. "I hadn’t heard anything from the pre-elite camp, so I thought I didn’t make it. Sure enough the day before I was supposed to go they called and said ‘Are you coming?’"
The answer was yes and Goodale cancelled her flight to Amsterdam and instead made plans to go to Princeton, where she will spend the next five weeks training with 11 other rowers for a chance at making the final boat.
The first half of the camp will consist of mostly pairs and technique work, with the remainder of the camp devoted to racing. The top four rowers will make up the camp’s straight four (no coxswain) that will compete at the U.S. Trials. The winner of the U.S. Trials will race at the World Championship in Barcelona, Spain on July 27, provided it meets the event’s minimum time standard.
"The competition here is pretty stiff," Goodale said. "I’m sure everyone here has sub-7 erg scores. I’m six feet tall and I’m one of the smaller competitors."
Goodale said she’s just happy to to be invited to the camp and knows she will leave it as a better rower.
"I really don’t have any expectations," Goodale said. "I’m still pretty young and some of these girls are very experienced with national camps, but we’ll see what happens."
