Two Blue Devil rowers picked for U-23 team

Alex Japhet and Emily Theys will compete for the US Rowing U23 National Team at the 2011 FISA World Rowing Under 23 Championships from July 21-24 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

“Making the U23 National Team was my goal from the start of the 2010-11 season,” Theys told GoDuke.com. “I've had to deal with a few hiccups along the way, but my coaches, family, teammates and friends have been there to support me. I feel incredibly grateful and honored to have made the team because it was a fight the entire camp. Everyone wanted to make the boat and the level of competition was at a height that I had never experienced. We made our coaches’ jobs incredibly difficult when it came to selection because competition was tight across the board.

“This will be my first time competing at a World Championship, but I'd like to treat it as a normal race. Everyone wants to do well because we are now representing not only ourselves, but our country as well."

Theys, a rising junior, and Japhet, a recent graduate, will row in the women's quadruple sculls alongside Virginia's Kristine O'Brien and UC Berkeley's Rosemary Papa. Japhet, a CRCA second team All-American, has experience competing for the United States, having rowed at the 2007 Junior World Championships in Beijing, China.

"I felt prepared for the stress and physical demands of the selection, having been through this camp scenario several times with competitive development camps," Japhet told GoDuke.com. "It was harder than other camps I’ve done because I was not quite comfortable with my sculling stroke. I couldn’t really rely on muscle memory and years of previous strokes as the sweeping athletes do."

The Blue Devil pair led Duke to a third place in April's ACC championships. Both were named to the All-ACC team, Japhet's third all-conference selection and Theys' first.