Local rowers make Olympic team

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. — Anna Mickelson Cummins and Portia Johnson McGee are going to Beijing.

Cummins, a 2002 University of Washington graduate from Bellevue, and Portia McGee, of Seattle, won the women's pair Thursday morning at the 2008 U.S. Olympic rowing team trials on Lake Mercer in West Windsor, N.J.

They crossed the line in 7:12.458. Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.) and Elle Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) finished second in 7:16.296.

Cummins is a two-time Olympian, having won silver in the eight at the 2004 Olympic Games, while McGee is a first-time Olympian.

"We had to stay calm," McGee said. "It's huge, but in the end, it's just another piece against our teammates."

At the same time, McGee said she and Cummins "were prepared to fight tooth and nail to the finish."

In the men's double sculls, California Rowing Club's Elliot Hovey (Manchester, Mass.) and Wes Piermarini (West Brookfield, Mass.) held off Bantam Boat Club's Thomas and Peter Graves (Cincinnati) for the second day in a row. The California crew finished with a time of 6:27.348, 2.5 seconds ahead of the Graves brothers. Warren Anderson (Paso Robles, Calif.) and Jon Greer (Chester, N.H.) of CTC/CRC finished just behind in a 6:30.876. Both Hovey and Piermarini are first-time Olympians.

In the men's pair, USRowing Training Center's Josh Inman (Hillsboro, Ore.) and Matt Schnobrich (St. Paul, Minn.) finished ahead of teammates Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Greenwich, Conn.) for the second straight day, winning with a time of 6:38.104. The Winklevoss brothers clocked a 6:40.989. Both Inman and Schnobrich are first-time Olympians.

Michelle Guerette (Bristol, Conn.) easily won the women's single sculls in a 7:39.837. Undine Barge Club's Meghan Sarbanis (Hampstead, N.H.) crossed the line 10 seconds later to take second. Guerette, a two-time world championships bronze medalist in the event, is a two-time Olympian, having raced in the women's quadruple sculls in 2004.

The 2008 U.S. Olympic Rowing Team will be named in several stages. In addition to the four crews that were selected during this regatta, six crews including the men's four, lightweight men's four, men's quadruple sculls, women's quadruple sculls, men's eight and women's eight are camp selected boats that will be named by their respective national team coaches on June 27.

The U.S. has yet to qualify three boats for the 2008 Olympic Games — the men's single sculls, lightweight women's double sculls and lightweight men's double sculls. USRowing will send a representative in each of those boat categories to the 2008 Olympic Qualification Regatta scheduled for June 15-18 in Poznan, Poland.

If the crews finish high enough, they will represent the U.S. at the Olympics in Beijing. The women's double sculls crew has already been selected to the team.