Summit's Wilson Morton Advances World Rowing Semis in Bulgaria

Plovdiv, Bulgaria —Summit native Wilson Morton, a 2021 graduate of Delbarton School, and teammate Emmett Infante, who is from Mountain Lakes, won their preliminary heat in Men's Pair at the World Rowing Junior Championships Wednesday in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

The pair, who are teammates with Mt. Arlington-based Row New Jersey, advanced to Friday's semifinals along with Italy, Poland, Spain, Romania and Germany. Spain finished second to the U.S. in Heat 2.

In Friday's race, which was a distance of 2000 meters, the Americans built a 2-second lead on second-place Turkey in the first 500 meters, according to USRowing.org. The U.S. continued to widen the gap on Turkey, which eventually was overtaken by Spain in second place.

The U.S. crossed the finish line with a time of 5:53.98, coming in 1.84 seconds ahead of Spain.

According to WorldRowing.com, Morton and Infante "row together back home, and they looked the most polished (in the race)."

Infante said he and Morton were able to execute their race plan perfectly.

"We got out ahead around the first 500 meters and settled down to a pretty low rate and kept our pace from the boat in second place," Infante said, according to USRowing.org. "When the other crews attempted to make a move, we were able to move with them and just pace a length between us and them basically the whole race."

Morton will be rowing at University of California Berkeley in the fall, while Infante, who graduated from Mountain Lakes High, will compete collegiately at Princeton.