Hobart and William Smith Colleges

24 June 2013 Hughes Off to World Championship Trials

William Smith College rising senior Libby Hughes will compete in the Under 23 World Championship Trials on Mercer Lake in Princeton Junction, N.J., June 24-26. Shell compete in the lightweight womens single sculls attempting to qualify for the 2013 U23 World Championship in Linz, Austria.

Twelve women will compete in three heats on Monday morning with the top two finishers in each heat progressing to Tuesdays semifinals. The other six competitors will return to the water Monday after for a pair of repechages with the two winners earning the final two spots in the semifinals.

The top two finishers in each semifinal will progress to Wednesdays finals. USRowing will live stream the finals beginning at 7:20 a.m. The lightweight womens single sculls final is slated to begin at 9 a.m. A link to the live stream can be found on www.usrowing.org.

Hughes is fresh off an exceptional junior season with the Herons. As a member of the varsity eight, she finished third in the grand final at the NCAA Championships, won a bronze medal at the ECAC NIRC, and took home gold medals at the New York State and Liberty League championships. In the fall, Hughes and the varsity eight won the collegiate division at the Head of the Genesee and took second at the Head of the Charles and the Head of the Fish.

No stranger to sculling, Hughes was a two-time New York State Champion and won the 2009 SRAA National Championship in the varsity pair for Emma Willard School in Troy, N.Y.

For the past two weeks, Hughes has been honing her sculling skills at a U23 development camp hosted by William Smith and run by Heron Assistant Coach Lindsey Hochman, a three-time member of Team USA. Hochman competed in the lightweight womens quadruple scull in 2009, 2011, and 2012, winning bronze medals at the 2009 and 2011 World Rowing Championships.

The camp features twice-a-day on the water sessions, focusing on rowing technique and conditioning, as well as racing and regatta preparation. Off the water, athletes have interned with the Musselman Triathlon, developing leadership and communication skills.

The elite camp runs for two more weeks and features rowers from some of the nations top colleges and universities, including Yale, Georgetown, and Rutgers.