NEWPORT HARBOR, Calif. - The Triton women's crew moved into the final leg of their spring rowing season with a strong showing at the Berg Cup, hosted by Orange Coast College on Saturday at Newport Harbor.
The Triton varsity eight showed the strength of their training by improving against the cross roads against crews they've raced earlier in the year. University of San Diego, coming off a win at the Crew Classic, took a commanding lead right from the start, moving out to an open water lead within the first minute of the race. UC San Diego, Orange Coast College and UC Santa Barbara followed in a tight bunch, with OCC and the Gauchos pulling out to a slight lead by the half way mark. Orange Coast continued to inch away for a full length lead, until the Tritons put in a push the moved them through Santa Barbara and closing on Orange Coast. The Gauchos came back in a sprint for the finish line, and just touched out the Tritons, just a few moments behind Orange Coast. University for San Diego took line honors and the Berg Cup, with OCC in 2nd, UCSB, 3rd, UC San Diego 4th; followed by Long Beach State, UC Irvine and Chapman College.
"It was the best race we've so far this year," said head coach Pattie Pinkerton." We've been working on improving every race; and the squad really pulled it out. It was very mature racing, with crews changing position throughout the race. The women stuck to their race plan and put it all out there. It also underscores that the work they are doing on the water and in the gym is paying off. Our sprint home was a little shaky, but we've been working on the speed in the body of the race, now we can focus on sharpening up the sprints. "
The Tritons faced Long Beach, Santa Barbara and USD in races earlier this season, and improved their position by seven seconds on Santa Barbara, 14 seconds on Long Beach and 20 seconds closer to USD.
The novice four also had a stellar race, with three athletes jumping out of a disappointing novice eight race to challenge USD, Long Beach and two Santa Barbara crews. USD jumped out to an early lead, with the remaining crews racing side by side, stroke for stroke down the course. With 600 meters to go, the Tritons began pegging USD back, and moved out on the field a few inches a stroke, to bring the field through USD, and hold off a late charge by Long Beach to take first place.
It was sweet revenge for the UC San Diego crew as the novice eight crew was tangled with starting buoys when then officials missed the coxswains raised hand, and started the race anyway. By the time the Triton crew disentangled from the buoys and dodged a Long Beach crew, they had to play catch up, pushing through UC Irvine and Long Beach, and running out of race course as they caught the USD "B" crew. The USD A crew took out first place, with UCSB and OCC in second and third.
"It was a heart breaker, because we've raced and beaten many of these crews before, and finished just off USD in the City Championships. We were looking forward to closing the gap," said novice coach Julia White-Hoppe. "They did a great job coming back after the start mishap, and they raced a very focused and courageous race in the Fours."
In other action, the second varsity eight finished third behind USD B and USD A. The Triton lightweight four placed seventh in the varsity four, and the second novice eight held off Orange Coast to finish second behind UC Santa Barbara.
The Tritons have a scrimmage against San Diego State in two weeks as their final tune-up before the conference championships in Sacramento at Gold River, May 1-2.
Berg Cup Line-ups;
Varsity Eight
Coxswain Katrina Paz
8. Denise Kleckner
7. Jaime Bigwood
6. Summer Austin
5. Megan Simmons
4. Courtney Escajeda
3. Wanda Chin
2. Jesi Bennett
1. Lynn Nguyen
Second Varsity Eight
Coxswain Amy Chin
8 Brianna Patterson
7 Julie Montes
6 Carolyn Belak
5 Brigitte Ngo-Trinh
4 Stacey Yates
3 Daisy Orta
2 Kelly Temes
1 Melissa Lau
Varsity Four- Lightweight 4+
Coxswain Katrina Paz
4. Brigitte Ngo-Trinh
2. Lynn Nguyen
3. Kelly Temes
1. Melissa Lau
