Colby graduates to row for U.S. national team

The world is watching London's Heathrow airport. Colby College graduates Pete Morelli and Ted Farwell are among those paying extra-close attention to the news coming out of England. With reports that British authorities thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up planes bound from England to the United States, anybody with plans to fly into Heathrow soon had to at least consider changing their travel plans, including Morelli and Farwell.

The World Rowing Championships in Eton, England, will go on as planned, and Morelli, Farwell and their United States National Rowing teammates will fly to London this weekend as scheduled.

"We'll just be on the lookout and expect delays," said Morelli, a 2002 Colby graduate. "Just get (to the airport) early and bring a good book."

"I'm starting to get a lot of e-mails about the whole thing," said Farwell, from the Colby class of '05. "We're still planning on going this weekend."

Airport delays and carry-on luggage prohibitions are just minor nuisances for Morelli and Farwell, each of whom is on the U.S. National Rowing Team for the first time. The pair earned their spots at the U.S. Rowing Senior National Team Trials on Mercer Lake in New Jersey last week, and both will compete in the world championships in Eton from Aug. 20-27.

To make the national team, rowers had to win a best two-of-three series over the three-day trials and be at a time standard. This was the second attempt to make the national team for Morelli, a member of the Riverside Boat Club's Lightweight Eight boat out of Cambridge, Mass.

"The difference was having more experience under our belts," said Morelli, in his third year with the team. "We have that high-level racing experience and fitness we were lacking. Rowing is the type of sport where marginal increases can make all the difference. If you get one extra inch per stroke, multiply that by 200 strokes, and you can really shave some time."

Morelli's crew won both Wednesday and Thursday to sweep the series. On Thursday, they beat the qualifying standard of five minutes, 42 seconds with a time of 5:41.169.

With rower Pat Godfrey and coxswain Vince Puma for the Pennsylvania Athletic Club Rowing Association's men's pair with coxswain boat, Farwell earned a spot on the national team on his first try, sweeping their competition and squeaking in just under the qualifying standard of 7:05 with a time of 7:04.992.

"It was 100 degrees, and that warmed up the water and made it better for racing," Farwell said. "I didn't expect to make it on the first try. I was thinking more of '07."

While both Farwell and Morelli were captains of the crew team at Colby, they came at the sport from different angles. Farwell arrived on Mayflower Hill already a veteran, having been a member of his high school crew squad at the Middlesex School in Massachusetts. Morelli joined the team having never rowed in his life.

"I started because I saw a flyer, and I figured (rowing) might keep you in shape," Morelli said.

"They were a joy to have," Colby crew coach Stew Stokes said. "They were clearly leaders. They really helped move the program forward."

Once they get to England, Morelli, Farwell and the rest of the national team will practice for a week before the competition. Morelli's itinerary currently has his crew arriving at 10 a.m. London time on Sunday, then practicing that afternoon.

"We'll force ourselves to be tired on the first day as we adjust to the five-hour time difference," Morelli said. "It's hard to know what to expect. Our objective is to win the gold medal."

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