BRIVE-LA-GAILLARDE, France - Chelsea Lucas of Greenbrae and Kristy Wentzel of San Anselmo propelled the U.S. junior girls eight-plus boat to a gold medal at the 2009 World Rowing Junior Championships on Saturday. The U.S. team took the lead midway through the 2,000-meter race and pulled away to a 4.30 second victory over second-place New Zealand. The Americans, the defending world champions, trailed New Zealand through the first 500 meters of the race. "We were really expecting to be down a lot more at the first 500, so when we were only down a few seats, we really felt like it was in our reach," said Lucas, who won gold with the team for the second year in a row. "At that point, we knew it was doable. É We felt like this year was our time to really focus on our speed. We just felt really confident on how we went out and executed our race." The U.S. squad finished with a time of 6 minutes, 26.89 seconds, with New Zealand next in 6:31.19. Germany won the bronze medal with a time of 6:34.97. View full results...