Six Cavaliers Named to World Under-23 Rowing Championship Rosters

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July 13, 2015

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.-Six members of the Virginia rowing program have been named to national team rosters for the 2015 World Under-23 Rowing Championships, being held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, July 22-26.

Five Cavaliers will be representing the United States including Class of 2015 graduate Lizzy Youngling (Weston, Conn.), rising senior Sam Casto (Dallas, Pa.) and rising juniors Erin Briggs (Orono, Minn.), Colette Lucas-Conwell (Palo Alto, Calif.) and Georgia Ratcliff (Falls Church, Va.). Virginia has the highest representation of any women’s program on the U.S. squad.

Rising junior Ali Zwicker (Victoria, British Columbia) will be representing Canada at the international regatta. In addition, UVa head coach Kevin Sauer will serve as the U.S. men’s head coach for the regatta.

The five Americans were all part of the Virginia Varsity Eight that placed third at the 2015 NCAA Championships. Zwicker was a member of the UVa Second Varsity Eight that finished 12th at the national regatta.

Lucas-Conwell will be the coxswain for the American eight, which will have Ratcliff and Youngling rowing in it. Youngling will also compete in the four and Ratcliff in the pair, while Briggs and Casto will both be in the American quad that will be racing against Zwicker’s Canadian crew.

Youngling was part of the American eight that captured gold at the 2014 World U23 regatta, while Casto placed 10th in the single. Zwicker and Ratcliff have both previously competed at the World Junior Championships, while it will be the first international experience for Briggs and Lucas-Conwell, who becomes the first UVa coxswain to be named to a national team.