May 26, 2004

          A 35-year-old Hoosier is one step away from rowing again in the Olympic Games.

          Steve Tucker, a Mooresville native, and Greg Ruckman of Cincinnati swept a best-of-three finals in lightweight men's double sculls in the U.S. Olympic Trials at West Windsor, N.J.

          The duo won the second of the two races Saturday by a comfortable 5.94 seconds.

          However, the United States did not earn an Olympic slot in that event at the 2003 World Championships. Therefore, Tucker and Ruckman must finish in the top four in a qualification regatta June 13-16 at Lucerne, Switzerland.

          Tucker and Conal Groom of Northford, Conn., were 11th at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Ruckman, 30, was sixth in the lightweight four at Sydney.

          Tucker, 5-8 and 153 pounds, lives in Medford, Mass. He is a graduate of Culver Military Academy and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

          He and Ruckman were third in 2003 World Cup standings. Tucker won a bronze medal in lightweight single sculls at the 2002 World Championship and was fourth in 2001.

          The 6-1, 155-pound Ruckman is a Harvard graduate.