LA JOLLA, Calif. ? UC San Diego men's and women's crew heads out to the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships this weekend, where both found success last season as the men took home a third place overall team points trophy and the women's varsity eight finished second in a Grand Final photo finish. The Triton men begin action at Rancho Cordova at 7 a.m., while the women start at 8 a.m. at Lake Natoma, with both beginning competition Saturday, May 2 and concluding Sunday, May 3.
Head coach Zach Johnson has led UCSD men's crew to an amazing season, with the team carrying the momentum from their last event, the 44th Annual Newport Regatta on April 18, as both the varsity eight and JV eight boats won their respective races, with the novice four and novice eight coming in second and the varsity four placing third.
“It was a great race in the fact that we were able to pull of wins in both the varsity and JV despite a difficult week of training with high winds and coming off of such a big win at the Crew Classic,” said Johnson. “This was only the second time in the history of the event that UCSD was able to win the varsity eight event (last time was 1998) and the first time we have swept the varsity and JV eight events, showing great strength and depth in our program.”
Varsity eight has put together a record-breaking season in 2008-09, losing only once by less than a second to Gonzaga. At the San Diego Crew Classic, the team recaptured the Cal Cup it has now won twice in the past three years and earned a spot in next year's Copley Cup. The varsity eight has also held a top-25 ranking from the US Rowing Collegiate National Polls every week this season and is poised for their best chance at making the IRA Men's Collegiate National Championships, a feat accomplished by no California schools outside of perennial powerhouses Cal and Stanford.
Women's crew was last in action on April 5 at Vancouver Lake, Washington as part of the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Championships. The varsity crews faced defending National Champion Western Washington as well as fourth-ranked Dowling College (NY) and regional Division II competition. Following a two-hour fog delay, the varsity eight held with the field through 500 meters before falling back and finishing sixth overall. The varsity four came in third amongst Division II Fours, while the Triton novices were in action during the same weekend, competing in the qualifying heats of the San Diego Crew Classic.
“We've had a couple of regattas cancelled, but we've been able to scrimmage against San Diego State and those workouts have been very useful,” said head coach Pattie Pinkerton. “Our goal was to lock in our speed work as we get to the sharp end of the season. I think they're looking outstanding.”
UCSD's varsity eight had a memorable WIRA experience last season, leading the Grand Final pack until the final five meters of the race and ultimately finishing second to Seattle Pacific. The Tritons posted a time of 7:13.1, only 0.7 seconds behind SPU and over five full seconds ahead of third-place Humboldt State.
Following the WIRA Championships this weekend, men's crew will again be in action on May 17-18 at the ECAC National Invitational Regatta, with a scheduled start of 7 a.m. at a site to be determined. Women's crew returns to competition at Lake Natoma on May 16 as part of the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships, with an 8 a.m. scheduled start time.
