REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - The UC San Diego Women's Crew finished their official fall season with a strong showing at the Head of the Lagoon in Redwood City, competing with over 200 crews over 5 kilometers on a breezy winding course in the bay area.
“Our Varsity Eight rowed a superb race,” said Head Coach Pattie Pinkerton. “They competed in the Open Eight, losing to Bair Island Aquatic Center by 20 seconds, but they finished five seconds up on Cal Maritime, and 21 seconds up on D-II rival Sonoma State for a silver medal finish. Considering how short our fall season is, I'm very pleased that we finished first among the college crews.”
The Varsity boat was coxed by Leslie Nanninga, and stroked by Caryn Urbanczyk, with Jillian Peacock at 7-seat, Lauren Menzies at 6, Jaime Bigwood at 5, Denise Kleckner at 4, Summer Austin at 3, Kelly Hansen at 2 and Alissa Kispersky at bow seat. Urbanczyk then jumped from the eight oared boat into a single shell, racing and winning the Open Single.
Austin and Bigwood doubled in the Open Pair, finishing second behind team mates Laurel Copenbarger and Jesi Bennett, who won the San Mateo Cup for the Championship Pair.
Amy Fan coxed the Varsity Four, which came in 3rd of three crews, finishing behind winner Lake Merritt Rowing Club and Sonoma State. Danielle Dowler stroked the boat, with Stacey Yates at 3, Triny Rios at 2 and Katie Tanaka at bow. Tanaka jumped from the Four into the Lightweight Eight, which also brought home gold as the only boat in its category. The Collegiate Lightweight Four, coxed by Fan, included four women who also rowed in the Eight. Stroke Kavya Rao, 3-seat Andrea Lin, 2-seat Wanda Chin and bow Susanne Chang won the collegiate category, passing Sonoma State and Stanford Rowing Club.
The Novice Squad came in 4th, 6th and 7th against a class field that included winner St. Mary's College, 2nd place Stanford University, and Sonoma State.
“Our A boat finished 1 second behind the Sonoma A boat and 50 seconds ahead of their B boat,” said Novice Coach Liz Record. “With only three weeks on the water, it's a very strong performance. We can hardly wait until spring racing, when our training time catches up with the semester schools.”
Record teamed up with fellow alumna and co-coach Kelsey Thomas to finish 3rd in the Open Double.
The squad will finish their fall training season with an intra-college scrimmage next Saturday.
Results:
Open Eight: 1. BIAC 21:26 2. UC San Diego 21:47; 3. Cal Maritime 21:51; 4. Sonoma State 22:08
Open Four: 1. Lake Merritt RC 23:06; 2. Sonoma State 26:27; 3. UC San Diego 28:09
Collegiate Novice Eight: 1. St Mary's College 23:13, 2. Stanford U 23:56; 3. Sonoma State A 24:04; 4. UC San Diego A 24:05; 5. Sonoma B 24:55; 6. UC San Diego B 29:19; 7. UC San Diego C 31:07
Lightweight Eight: 1. UC San Diego 23:50
Only places available for these races:
Women's Light Four: 1.UC San Diego 2. Stanford RC, 3. Sonoma State
Women's Open Pair: 1. UC San Diego A (Bennett); 2. UC San Diego B (Bigwood); 3. DWRC (Gran)
Women's Open Single: 1. UC San Diego (Urbanczyk)
Women's Open Double: 1. Stanford RC, 2. River City RC, 3. UC San Diego Coaches (Thomas), 4. Humboldt Bay RC, 5. Ashland RC
