UCSD men’s and women’s crew took to the water on a clear Sunday morning last weekend in Mission Bay to participate in the Fall Rowing Classic.

Competing against San Diego State University, University of San Diego, UC Irvine, Arizona State University and several other competitive club teams, UCSD’s men’s and women’s crew teams gained some much-needed experience. In several events UCSD placed ahead of SDSU and UC Irvine, two Division I schools that offer scholarships.

“”We’re racing against Division I schools with scholarships,”” said women’s crew coach Patti Pinkerton. “”It’s a very uneven playing field.””

UCSD men’s crew started the day off for the Tritons on a positive note, placing third in the open four event with an elapsed time of 23:14, four seconds ahead of the SDSU and seven second ahead of UC Irvine.

The men also placed in the collegiate eight competition, coming in fourth at 20:28. USD was the winner, running the course in 19:55.

The women’s team had three novice boats in the junior novice eight race, and they all disappointingly finished in the bottom three spots, coming in eighth, ninth and 10th place. All were over three minutes behind the seventh-place Arizona boat.

However, Pinkerton was not disappointed with the low placement of the women’s novice boats.

“”The novice eight had three novice crews come in the tail end, but they’ve only been rowing a week,”” she said. “”Traditionally, in the fall we don’t do particularly well. I only put them in to see how they do and I was happy with that.””

The women’s open eight boat fared better, rowing a 26:09 to place fifth overall.

“”[They] did quite well beating some open clubs,”” Pinkerton said.

The women’s team rowed to a strong finish in the open four event to grab third place with a time of 25:49, sandwiched behind two SDSU boats and ahead of two UC Irvine boats.

“”[I] was very pleased,”” Pinkerton said. “”For us to finish third against SDSU and UCI is extremely well and our stroke was sick. The San Diego State team was really strong last year.””

However, the women’s collegiate eight boat wasn’t as fortunate, and came in last in its event.

Despite the last-place finishes by the novice boats and the collegiate eight boat, Pinkerton came out of the event with a positive outlook.

“”For us to boat four novice crews in the fall is pretty oustanding, “” she said. “”It’s an indicator that our program is growing.””