"I did not realize they were going to be as good as they are," lightweight head coach Dan Roock said, "Internationally, we will see how they stack up. The World Championship is intense competition, and it was a little bit of a surprise."
Henson and Grisdela, who both row for Dartmouth's varsity crew were victorious in the 2,000-meter race with a time of 6:40.79. By winning, the pair became eligible to represent the United States at the 2011 World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Amsterdam from July 21-24.
There are three levels of rowing under-23, junior and senior and most rowers do not reach their peak until their mid-20s or beyond, according to Roock.
Due to rules regarding coaching during the summer and off-season, Roock was prohibited from coaching beyond the Spring term. The pair trained at Riverside Boat Club in Boston under coach Bob Gillette. Henson and Griselda are fortunate to have "good fundamental rowing strokes" and their training at Riverside gave them the extra boost they needed to become faster and learn how to adapt to a different boat, according to Roock.
Their time at trials, 6:40.79, was wind-aided and very fast, but it is difficult to truly compare their time to other races and know where they stand, Roock said.
Lightweight rowing doubles, in which each rower has one oar, is currently not an Olympic event. At the Olympic level, the only events for lightweight rowers are double sculls, in which each rower has two oars, and coxless fours.
"These guys are not quite Olympic caliber yet, but the U-23 World Championship is very high caliber, very serious stuff," Roock said.
Both Henson and Grisdela were members of the varsity eight that won a close second place finish behind Harvard at the Eastern Sprints and third place following Yale and Harvard at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Nationals this past spring. After their success at the Eastern Sprints, both Henson and Grisdela were named to the second-team All-Ivy.
"Henson is a little older and a little bit more advanced in his rowing," Roock said. "For a 22-year-old, he is at a level that would warrant continuing [training] if he wanted to, and when he is 28 or 29, he has the physical capacity to continue to improve and to reach that [Olympic] level."
Both men have also held significant leadership positions for the team. Henson served as captain for his senior season and Grisdela was recently named commodore for the upcoming season.
"The commodore is kind of like the vice-captain," said Roock, "The role is more into the social element of the team, whereas the captain is more the performance leader."
Henson received the MVP Oar this past season as the most valuable rower in the sixth seat of the varsity eight. He also received the Louis C. Breer Memorial Bowl for sportsmanship.
"Henson was a great captain and was a leader on the team in performance," Roock said. "He has natural talent, but he also worked really hard."
Roock described Henson and Grisdela as "good guys" and said that their competitive success, respect from teammates and leadership roles could help propel the entire squad to competing at higher levels.
"It is confirmation for the rest of the group that this level of high performance can be achieved," Roock said. "They have the confidence to know that it is possible, they have these role models."
Grisdela and Henson were unavailable for comment by press time.
