New Canaan Sports Digest Sept 1

New Canaan's Andrew Campbell is having quite a summer.

The 19-year-old Harvard sophomore finished second in his semifinal Thursday in the lightweight men's single sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovakia.

The results sends Campbell into his second world championships final in two months.

"I’m having fun,” Campbell told USRowing. “And I lot of this is that I’m young and I’m not putting limits on myself. I think people who spend too long in the boat, who race for a long time in the boat, can start to put limits on who they can beat and what they can do, where I’m coming into these races not knowing anyone and no one knows me. And essentially, I’m operating without limits.”

Campbell has won the USRowing Youth National Championships, a bronze at the 2010 World Rowing Junior Championships, and last month he won bronze at the 2011 World Rowing Under 23 World Championships.

On Thursday, Campbell finishing second in 7:12.86, behind Denmark’s Henrik Stephansen, who finished in 7:07.37, to advance to Friday's final.  

“He’s 19 and just going for it,” said Charlie Butt, his coach in Slovakia and at Harvard. "He’s learned from a well-established junior coach, Yan Vengerovsky, who came from the Soviet Union with a wife, a five-year-old, and $12 dollars in his pocket to Maritime Rowing Club – and this is where he learned to row.

“Andrew had the good fortune to learn expert technique at a very young age. Obviously, he has a lot of talent and, now in 12 or 14 months, he’s been in the A final at the junior worlds, the U23 worlds and now the senior worlds. He’s really in it. He did a great job today."

Rams ranked 22nd In MSG Varsity Preseason Poll

The New Canaan football team is ranked 22nd in MSG Varsity's Tri-State Top 25 preseason poll.

The Rams are one of only two Connecticut teams to crack the top 25. The other is eighth-ranked Masuk, which defeated New Canaan 50-20 in last year's CIAC Class L title game to end the Rams' three-year reign as state champions.

The Panthers again will be led by quarterback Casey Cochran, last year's Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year who recently committed to the University of Connecticut.

New Canaan, which was 11-2 in 2010, should have another potent offense led by senior signal-caller Matt Milano, who passed for 42 touchdowns last year.

Heading MSG Varsity's preseason poll is Don Bosco Prep of Ramsey, N.J. Don Bosco was ranked No. 1 in the tri-state area and the conclusion of last season. 

Men's Four Team Advances At World Rowing Finals

The U.S. men’s four team of New Canaan's Charlie Cole, Scott Gault (Piedmont, Calif.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.) and Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.) advanced to the semifinals Wednesday at the World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovakia.

Right from the start, the four pulled into the lead and stayed there, winning with a time of 6:00.55 – nearly three seconds over second-place Italy.

"It was a good step for us,” Cole told US Rowing. “There are some really tough crews. We saw that for ourselves in the heat, and we knew it was up to us to see how much we could improve from then to now. And we did improve some things, but we need to do a lot more before the semifinal and we’re up to the challenge."

The U.S. team recovered from Monday's narrow second-place finish in its heat on Monday to win Wednesday’s repechage.

"We didn’t think about the result (Monday)," Cole added. "We just thought about what we could have done better and the basics we have done all year, and try to get to those a little bit and do better."

Casali Finishing First Professional Season

With a week left in the regular season, New Canaan's Curt Casali is batting .213 for the West Michigan Whitecaps of the Class A Midwest League.

Casali has played in 20 games for the Whitecaps, collecting 13 hits in 61 at-bats with four doubles and one home run.

He has been a bit more productive in August, batting .273 (9-for-33) in nine games during the month.

Combined, Casali, who is in his first season of professional baseball, is hitting .237 (23-for-97) in 30 games.

He started the season in the New York-Penn League with the Connecticut Tigers, where he hit .278 in 10 games ( 10-for-36) before getting called up to the Whitecaps. 

The Daily Sports Digest is designed for you to add your best photo and/or video to share (instructions here). If you see anything in our scores, standings, or schedules that requires updating, please e-mail sports editor Bob Birge at bob.birge@hotmail.com