GOLD RIVER, Calif. - UC San Diego women's crew finished its 2010 racing season with medal-winning performances against a class field at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships this weekend. The mixed squad of 24 varsity and novice rowers came home with 26 medals.

The varsity eight faced off against defending D-II National Champion, Western Washington, in the first race of the day in near perfect conditions. The two crews came off the line together, but the powerful Western Washington crew showed why they've won the NCAA D-II title for the past five year while opening up a strong lead lead. The Tritons kept the pressure on, starting their sprint with 500 meters to go, however WWU took line honors, while the Triton squad recorded their fastest race of the season with a time of 7:22.8.

"I thought we rowed really strong, and it was great to see how all of our hard work over the season climaxed with this race," freshman Courtney Escajeda said. "I'm very proud of my teammates, and honored to have rowed with this year's seniors."

"It just flowed," said stroke Denise Kleckner. "Our goal was to push as hard as we could, and put it all out there. "

The varsity four finished third in their final race of the season, behind two Western Washington crews

"We knew we were up against a tough crew, but we agreed that we were going to keep our focus and race the race we knew we had in us," said stroke Brianna Patterson of the varsity four performance. "At 1000 meters, our coxswain called for our commitment to push, and you could feel the boat pick up and go. The power just kept coming."

"We had a young team this year and they had a steep learning curve," said head coach Pattie Pinkerton. "It was awesome to watch them put everything together today, against top national competitors, and race like champions. They've been getting better and better throughout the season, and they were stellar out there today."

The varsity lightweight four turned in a stellar performance as well, opening up an early lead over Oregon to win their race with several lengths of open water. Patterson, who stroked the Varsity Four, stroked the Light Four as well, leading Brigitte Ngo-Trinh, Kelly Temes, Melissa Lau and coxswain Katrina Paz to their first PCRC title.

Adding to the medal tally, the novice four faced off against D-I competition and came home with a bronze medal in a race won by UCLA. St Mary's came in second, the Tritons in third, followed by Oregon and UC Berkeley. Coach Pinkerton and Novice coach Julia White-Hoppe then scrambled the squad of novices and varsity to take sixth in the Open Eight, won by Stanford, fourth in the Collegiate Four, won by St Mary's, and sixth in the Open Four, won by UC Berkeley.

Summer Austin capped her senior year by winning the Collegiate Single Scull, followed by teammate Carolyn Belak in secnd place.

"The varsity eight, varsity four and novice four were key races to cap this season, and the races in the afternoon set the platform for next year's season," said Pinkerton. "We wanted the returning varsity to know what we will be facing next year. They were in the mix against a very strong field, so today's experience will move them closer to medals next year as well."

Varsity Eight 2nd Place
Coxswain Katrina Paz-(Jr.)
Stroke: Denise Kleckner (C0-Captain; Jr.)
7. Jaime Bigwood (Sr)
6. Summer Austin (Sr.)
5. Megan Simmons (Jr.)
4. Courtney Escajeda (Fr)
3. Wanda Chin (Sr.)
2. Jesi Bennett (Co-Captain (Sr)
1. Lynn Nguyen (Sr.)

Varsity Four 3rd Place
Coxswain: Sandra Ireheda (Fr)
Stroke: Brianna Patterson (Sr.)
3. Julie Montes (So)
2. Carolyn Belak (So)
1. Stacey Yates (Jr.)

Novice Four (first year rowers) 3rd Place
Coxswain: Steph Pham
4. April Kim
3. Chantal Creighton
2. Jen Burke
1. Alyssa Dixon-Word

Varsity Lightweight Four- 1st Place
Coxswain: Katrina Paz (Jr)
4. Brianna Patterson (Sr.)
3. Brigitte Ngo-Trinh (Sr.)
2. Kelly Temes (Jr.)
1. Melissa Lau (So)

Collegiate Single Scull
1st Summer Austin
2nd Carolyn Belak

Times
Varsity Eight
1. WWU 6.49.7
2. UC San Diego 7.22.8

Varsity Four
1. WWU 7:45.9
2. WWU B 8.00.2
3. UC San Diego 8:50.5

Novice Four
1. UCLA 7:50.1
2. St Mary's 8:07.3
3. UC San Diego 8:18.0
4. Oregon 8:48.1
5. UC Berkeley 8:58.4

Women's Open Eight
1. Stanford U 6:45.4
2. Sacramento St 6:55.2
3. UC Berkeley 7:03.8
4. St Mary's 7.12.9
5. River City 7.16.3
6. UC San Diego 7.31.6
7. Oregon 7.45.1

Open Pair
1. Sacramento State 8.07.0
2. St Mary's 9.01.0
3. UC Irvine 9.06.0
4. Oregon 9.17.0
5. UC San Diego 9.26.0
6. St Mary's B 9.31.0

Collegiate Single
1. UC San Diego (Austin) 9.50.3
2. UC San Diego (Belak) 10.19.6

Women's Collegiate Four
1. St Mary's 7.51.4
2. Stanford A 7.57.9
3. Stanford B 8.35.0
4. UC San Diego 8:50