Day Two of Florida Duels Provides Another Set of Tough Challenges for Tritons

W Crew

Courtesy: UCSD Release: 03/26/11

Courtesy: UCSD

Denise Kleckner prepares for the varsity eight's race against Barry University at the Division II Florida Duels on Saturday.

FELLSMERE, Fla. - UC San Diego women's crew battled on day two of the Division II Florida Duels on Saturday, facing off against the 2010 Sunshine Conference Champions Barry University and Nova Southeastern.

Barry was able to get more run per stroke on the Fellsmere Canal waters and inched away from the Tritons to the finish line with a final time of 7:06, which was 15 seconds ahead of UCSD.

The Tritons' varsity four posted a win over Barry as they eased out to a full-length lead by the halfway mark. They managed to hold off a challenge by Barry, eventually putting them away for an eight second, two-boat length lead at the finish. It was nearly a 20 second improvement over Friday evening's time. Christina Niffenegger traded in for Daisy Orta in the 2-seat as head coach Pattie Pinkerton used the regatta format to try different lineups.

"Friday set the stage for improved boat speeds and a race execution today," Pinkerton said. "I felt that we accomplished our race plan much better in the calm water conditions this morning."

In the varsity eight's second flight, UCSD faced off against Nova Southeastern. Nova had posted a 45 second and a 23 second victory over University of Charleston and Fairfield University, respectively. In addition, Nova recorded a 40 second margin in the 2010 event.

"They are the fastest crew at the regatta, always putting forth a strong performance." Pinkerton said of Nova Southeastern.

Nova inched out and found it difficult to break free until the final 700 meters. The Tritons showed a clear racing curve, improving with each race and finishing 15 seconds behind Nova and 45 seconds ahead of their second varsity. Comparing times across the races, UCSD closed the gap on all of the crews.

The four again faced a duo of Nova fours that had finished first and second in each of their races. The varsity four lineup of Coxswain Uyen Hunh, stroke Julia Montes, 3-Tanya Vandervis, 2-Christina Niffenegger and Bow Daisy Orta maintained contact with Nova through the first 1000m of the race, but the Nova A boat pulled out stroke by stroke, leaving the Tritons and Nova's B boat to battle it out down the course. UCSD held on to put the Sharks away on the line finishing second. UCSD was 18 seconds behind the Nova A boat and 0.4 seconds ahead of the Nova B boat.

"Across the board it was an improved performance," said Pinkerton. "We battled and were able to gain ground implementing our race plans."

The Tritons are back in action next weekend with the annual San Diego Crew Classic at Mission Bay.

Lineups:

Varsity Eight
Coxswain - Katrina Kettler
Stroke - Kelly Temes
7 - Alyssa Dixon Word
6 - Denise Kleckner
5 - Jen Burke
4 - Carolyn Belak
3 - Carolyn Baratz
2 - Collette Lefuel
1 - Chelsea Bollinger