Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Heavyweight Trio Wins M8+ Silver; 6 Incoming Tigers Medal At Junior Worlds
August 14, 2015 | Heavyweight Rowing, Women's Rowing - Open, Men's Rowing - Lightweight
The trio of Hunter Johnson, Jim Palmer and Charles Watt will represent the Orange and Black of the Princeton heavyweights for the next four years. They achieved impressive success in an early competition together, as the trio helped lead the USA M8+ to a silver medal at the Junior World Championships, held recently in Rio de Janeiro.
Those three were among seven incoming Princeton rowers in competition, and six of them returned with medals. Future teammates Jonny Naylor and Chris Lawrie both stroked their respective boats for Great Britain; Lawie led the 4x to gold, while Naylor led the 4- to silver.
Emily Kallfelz, who joins the open women this fall, earned a bronze medal with the USA W4x, and she added a Top 10 finish in the single sculls. Men's lightweight rower Daniel Hogan competed for the USA M4-.
The trio of Johnson (7 seat), Palmer (bow) and Watt (4 seat) made a dramatic push for gold in their grand final, and led for much of the 2,000 meters before ultimately getting caught by the Netherlands. Germany made a strong run as well, but the USA finished in 5:53.89 to hold off the Germans by about half a second.
"Competing at Junior World Chanpionships had been my goal for a year and a half leading up to this summer," Johnson said. "When we made the A final and found ourselves in a position where we knew we could challenge other crews for a medal, I was ecstatic. Then finally reaching the medal stand was incredible.
"I realized how rewarding the summer of hard training had been, and finally felt like my years of training had amounted to something," he added. "I can only see myself growing from this experience, especially with such a great group of guys and two other Tigers. The fact that Charles, Jim and I are all heading to Princeton in the fall only made us more excited to row together and try to find success. Having these friendships going into Princeton is very nice, and will hopefully ease our transition onto campus."
His other future teammates from the Junior Worlds, Naylor and Lawrie, both reached their respective grand finals. Lawrie stroked the M4x to a thrilling comeback win over Germany in 6:05.36; the boat was in fifth place midway through the race, and it pushed past both the Ukraine and Germany in the final 500 to win gold. Naylor stroked the British M4-, which also held off a strong German charge, to a silver medal in 6:19.39.
Kallfelz competed twice for the USA, including her bronze medal win as the stroke of the quad. Her boat finished in 6:52.58, which finished comfortably ahead of France to reach the medal stand. She also rowed in the single, where she finished fourth in the B final.
Hogan was the lone future Princeton lightweight in the field, and he stroked the 4- to a fifth-place finish in 6:24.92.