RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. ? UC San Diego women's crew finished its season as national runners-up at the NCAA Division II Championships for the second straight year, with impressive second-place finishes Sunday on Lake Natoma in both the varsity eight and varsity four races. The Vikings of Western Washington University claimed the D-II title for the fourth consecutive season.
“The girls just had a really, really awesome row,” UCSD head coach Pattie Pinkerton said moments after the varsity eight Grand Final. “We were tight with Dowling for second but with 500 meters to go, we just put the hammer down and took off.”
In the varsity four Grand Final, the first race of the championship's final day, separation between the three squads competing broke early and continued to widen as the rowing progressed. WWU built up an early lead and closed out the race strong, coming in at 7:57.54. The Tritons crossed the line second with a time of 8:10.95, followed by third-place finisher Nova Southeastern University at 8:25.10.
“We had a really solid start,” said Caryn Urbanczyk, a UCSD junior rowing in the stroke position. “Both Western and our boat left Nova behind inside 300 meters. Western usually takes a big push at the 400-meter mark but we were able to hold on to them almost to 1,000. Our goal was to make them work for every inch and we succeeded.”
The varsity eight Grand Final proved to be a closer struggle early on, as the four crews hit the 500-meter mark within three seconds of each other. The Vikings pushed away through the next quarter of the race though and as Philadelphia University fell to the back of the pack, UCSD and Dowling College were left to fight for the second-place position. At the midway point the Tritons faced more than a two-second deficit but with a dominating performance in the final 1,000 meters, UCSD crossed the finish line at 7:06.68 to top Dowling at 7:10.19. WWU clinched the national title with a time of 6:53.20.
“We knew coming in that Dowling liked to jump up their stroke rating and scare boats off,” said Stephanie Chang, the Tritons' varsity eight coxswain. “They made these big moves through the 500 and 1000 meter marks so it was really great to move past them and overcome their challenges. We started our sprint earlier than we had ever done and gutted it out to the finish.”
Based on the points system for the respective team finishes in the varsity eight and varsity four Grand Finals, the three totals for the nation's top three spots were: WWU with 20, UCSD at 15 and Dowling coming in third with six points.
Eleven of the 16 rowers on UCSD's championship roster are returning for the 2008-2009 season. The other five, graduating seniors from the varsity eight, are: Kelsey Thomas (stroke), Jen Myers (7-seat), Kali Webb (6), Maureen Kantner (2) and Kim Shaffer (bow).
“We couldn't take out Western Washington this year,” Pinkerton said, “but in one week we'll start training for next season and being able to do that.”
