ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands -- The mark of a true racer, Coco Schoeller was primed and ready for her first chance at a world rowing championship medal as a senior athlete. No fear clouded her mind during the long wait for the start.
"There is no one else I would rather have my first senior race with," said Schoeller. "We all knew it was going to be a dogfight the whole way down, and we were ready for it. When we locked in, I was immediately excited."
A dog-fight it was as Great Britain and the U.S. immediately jumped out on the field, putting more space between themselves and the remaining crews with every stroke.
Taking a move at the 500-meter mark, Kristine O'Brien (Massapequa Park, N.Y.), Schoeller (Miami, Fla.), Emily Huelskamp (Sainte Genevieve, Mo.) and Molly Bruggeman (Dayton, Ohio) began taking seats on the British, moving through the second quarter of the race.
Crossing through the 1,000-meter mark, however, the Brits responded. Loudly.
Great Britain overtook the U.S. crew in the third 500, eventually taking gold in 7:16.28, with the U.S. finishing second in a 7:21.53. Germany finished third.
"The British did a great job, and I have tremendous respect for them, but this just makes me want to continue to work harder and trainer better because nobody likes second place," Schoeller said. "This is a good thing to keep training for."
By taking silver, the U.S. continued its strong showing in the event, having won medals at every world championship in the women's four since 2006, except for 2012 when no crew was entered.
Unable to overtake Canada's Katherine Sauks for the final spot on the podium, Mary Jones (Huntsville, Ala.), finished the regatta in fourth place of the lightweight women's single sculls. New Zealand's Zoe McBride defended her title, finishing the race in 8:28.45. Sweden's Emma Fredh was unable to overtake McBride, despite a blistering sprint, and finished with silver in a time of 8:29.12. Sauks won bronze (8:37.96), while Jones logged a time of 8:38.73.
Lou Lombardi (Huntingdon, Pa.), Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich) and Yohann Rigogne (Besançon, France) of the men's pair with coxswain closed out their 2016 campaign in fifth place with a time of 7:37.95. In the race for gold, Canada and Britain battled over the middle thousand of the course with no more than a second between them at any given time.
The Brits would eventually edge their bow ball in front, winning gold in a time of 7:29.69, just 2.36 seconds ahead of the Canadians (7:32.05) after a massive sprint to the line. Italy (7:32.22) rounded out the top three.
Closing out the regatta in sixth place overall in the lightweight men's pair, Peter Gibson (Belmont, Mass.) and Andy Weiland (Upper Arlington, Ohio) clocked in a time of 7:36.91. The final sprint saw three bow balls almost dead even with 10 strokes to go, but in the end, France crossed the line first in 7:14.18, followed by Denmark (7:15.30) and Great Britain (7:16.49).
After finishing fourth in Monday's race for lanes, the lightweight women's quadruple sculls crew of Emily Schmieg (Philadelphia, Pa.), Morgan McGovern (San Francisco, Calif.), Monica Whitehouse (Muskego, Wis.) and Ashley Amos (Painsville, Ohio) took fifth place in today's final in a time of 7:26.24.
Trailing for a majority of the race, the British quad made its move on Germany in the third 500, taking the lead and holding it until crossing the finish line in 7:10.60. Germany finished second (7:12.45), followed by China (7:21.04).
Colin Ethridge (Laytonsville, Md.) finished the regatta in 10th place overall, logging a time of 7:59.54 to finish ahead of Croatia and Switzerland in the B final.
The U.S. lightweight men's quadruple sculls lineup of Jacob Georgeson (North Olmsted, Ohio), Peter Schmidt (Providence, R.I.) , Christopher Lambert-Rogers (Ithaca, N.Y.) and Tobin McGee (Rye, N.Y.) clocked in at 6:54.80 for fifth in the B final and 11th place overall.
After senior medals were distributed and junior D and C finals concluded, the U.S. junior squad competed in eight semifinals for the chance to reach Sunday's finals.
Down off the start and battling a strong headwind, the junior women's four powered through the field to ultimately cruise through the finish with two boat lengths of open water over the other crews. India Robinson (Berkeley, Calif.), Kelsey McGinley (Westport, Conn.), Sarah Ondak (Oklahoma City, Okla.) and Abigail Tarquinio (Nashville, Tenn.) clocked in at 7:48.67 to qualify for Sunday's final.
With 250-meters left in the race, Clark Dean (Sarasota, Fla.), Zachary Skypeck (Miami, Fla.), Andrew LeRoux (Venice, Fla.) and David Orner (Darien, Conn.) showed their speed against a tight field to pull away for a victory in their semifinal of the men's quadruple sculls in a time of 6:43.69, advancing to the final.
Emily Delleman (Davenport, Iowa) and Caroline Sharis (Bettendorf, Iowa) overtook Italy, then Denmark, in the middle thousand to power to a victory in the first semifinal of the women's double sculls in a time of 8:04.89.
Fending off the third-place German crew for a majority of the race, the U.S. men's four lineup of Ian Low (San Francisco, Calif.), Evan Dwinell (Tallahassee, Fla.), Sean Hayes (Greenwich, Conn.) and Cooper Ball (Carlsbad, Calif.) finished second behind Romania in a 6:57.65 to advance.
Holding strong in second place for the entirety of the race, Christian Tabash (Vienna, Va.) and Joseph Johnson (Arlington, Va.) advanced to the final of the men's pair with a time of 7:38.31.
With five crews advancing from the semifinals on Saturday, the U.S. is sending a record nine junior crews to the medal races on Sunday.
The junior women's quadruple sculls, men's single sculls and women's single sculls failed to advance to the medal races and will compete in B finals tomorrow.
The junior men's double sculls finished the regatta 23rd overall with a fifth-place finish in the D final.