Rio Recap: Exciting Day Six for #IviesinRio

Day six marked an exciting day for #IviesinRio. Jimmy Pedro coached Kayla Harrison to her second straight gold medal in the 78kg weight class, while U.S. Field Hockey picked up its fourth straight win and several Ivy rowers advanced.

Field Hockey

The U.S. Field Hockey team, which features four Ivies, remained undefeated with a 3-0 victory over India in their fourth game of group play. Harvard assistant coach Katie O'Donnell-Bam, who scored three goals in Wednesday's 6-1 win over Japan, scored the first two goals for the national team.

O'Donnell-Bam, Kathleen Sharkey (Princeton '13), Katie Reinprecht (Princeton '13), Julia Reinprecht (Princeton '14) and Team USA will close out Group B action on Saturday against Great Britain, the only other unbeaten team in the group.

Team USA, which finished last in London four years ago, could now bring home its first Olympic medal since taking bronze in 1984.

Judo

Brown graduate and four-time Olympian, Jimmy Pedro (Brown ’94) led Kayla Harrison to her second straight gold medal in the 78kg weight class. Harrison defeated second-ranked Audrey Tcheumeo of France in the gold medal bout. In 2012, Harrison became the first American to win gold in the sport of Judo and four years later, she becomes the first American to win consecutive gold medals.

Rowing

Kate Bertko (Princeton '06) started the day in the women's lightweight double sculls semifinals, and she and her U.S. teammate Devery Karz came in fifth in their heat in 7:22.78 to miss advancement to the top final by less than five seconds. Bertko and Karz will row in the B final at 8:10 a.m. ET Friday.

Lauren Wilkinson (Princeton ’11) helped Canada win its repechage in the women's eight in 6:28.07 by better than four seconds in front of Romania, and the Canadians gained a berth in the A final at 10:04 a.m. ET Saturday.

The Ivy trio of Glenn Ochal (Princeton ’08), Mike DiSanto (Harvard ‘12), Alex Karwoski (Cornell ‘12) and the U.S. men’s eight won their repechage in 5:51.13 by nearly two seconds over the Netherlands, putting their boat in the A final, the last race of the Olympic Games, Saturday at 10:24 a.m. ET.

Tracy Eisser (Cornell ’05) and the U.S. women’s quadruple sculls were racing for the first medals of the regatta. But, those medal chances passed the U.S. by. The women’s quad finished fifth.

The Ivy duo of Andrew Campbell (Harvard ’14) and Joshua Konieczny (Cornell ’13) found themselves racing in a tight pack that did not sort out the top three until deep into the last 500 meters, the U.S. finished second in 6:35.19.

In the coxless four semifinal, three Ivies competed. Charlie Cole (Yale ’07) and Henrik Rummel (Harvard ’09) representing the U.S. and Vincent Breet (Harvard ‘17) racing for South Africa.

In the first 1,500 meters, the U.S. were in the position to reach the final, rowing in second place. Going into the final 500 meters, South Africa and Italy started sprints that the U.S. could not match, and they fell into fourth where they crossed in 6:19.08.

Anders Weiss (Brown ‘15) and partner Nareg Guregian finished fifth in the pair.

The lightweight trio of Anthony Fahden (Dartmouth ’08), Tyler Nase (Princeton '13) and Robin Prendes (Princeton '11) concluded their Olympic journey with a fourth-place finish in the LM4- B final. The pair gave Team USA a 10th-place finish in the event.

Water Polo

Ashleigh Johnson (Princeton ’17) and the U.S. Women’s water polo team dominated yet again. In their second game of the Summer Olympics, the U.S. defeated China, 12-4. Johnson, who had 11 saves in their first game against Spain, had eight Thursday on 12 shot attempts in the three quarters she played.

The win keeps the U.S. at the top of Group B with one game remaining in group play. They’ll face Hungary Friday at noon ET.

Fencing

Katherine Holmes (Princeton ’18) and the U.S. women’s fencing epee team, the 2012 bronze-medal winners in London and seeded seventh at the Rio Games, were eliminated with a 24-23 loss to the second-seeded Romanians. With just nine teams in the women's épée bracket, the Americans' run began in the quarters, with sisters Courtney and Kelley Hurley competing in the first two bouts before Holmes took the strip for the first time with Romania leading 7-4. Holmes out-touched Romania's Simona Pop to halve the Americans' deficit to a 13-11 Romanian lead. Romania went on to win its first-ever gold medal in the women’s team competition.

Katherine Miller (Yale ’17) and the Brazil fencing team also competed in the women’s team epee competition.

Sailing

Six different fleets sailed a total of 16 races in a packed afternoon of the 2016 Rio Olympics sailing competition. Skies were mostly clear, but more heavy winds on the Marina da Glória made for fast and exciting racing in men’s and women’s events.

Team USA’s Louisa Chafee (Brown ’13) and Bora Gulari capsized their catamaran in the day’s first race, and had an all-around rough afternoon on the water with finishes of 21, 12, 21, and 4. They fall to 16th in the standings.

Team USA's Stu McNay (Yale ’05) and Dave Hughes will begin the third race day in ninth spot, 21 points behind leaders Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic of Croatia.

#IvyLeague #FieldHockey #Judo #Rowing #WaterPolo #Princeton #Dartmouth #Brown #Harvard #Yale #Cornell #Medals #IviesinRio