UCSD entered four boats last weekend against some of the best boats in the nation in the 30th annual San Diego Crew Classic.
In the Cal Cup varsity-eight division, UCSD came in with high hopes despite never having won in that division. The team included coxswain Catherine Stringer, and from bow to stern, Yukio King, Barak Smith, Brian Sullivan, Scott Destafney, Andrew Fischer, Eric Hardeman, Tom Witzgall and Leo Shook.
The team’s early success in the competition increased its confidence. In its Cal Cup heat it finished only two seconds behind first-place Western Washington University and secured a spot in the final round.
“”The first heat was an awesome race,”” Destafney said. “”It was amazing.””
Then things began to unravel for the Tritons. First, the men drew a tough outside lane assignment.
“”The Crew Classic is very hard to win from an outside lane,”” said coach Michael Phillipone.
Once the gun went off, UCSD had even more trouble. Early in the race, the Colgate boat drifted into the Tritons’ lane. The Tritons struggled from there to a sixth place finish out of 21 teams.
“”Our inexperience in the boat showed,”” said Phillipone of the Tritons’ late-race struggles.
Destafney was also frustrated about the team’s performance in the final race, but refused to blame Colgate.
“”I don’t think Colgate made much of a difference in the way we raced,”” Destafney said. “”We are much more capable than that.””
With the varsity-eight struggling, the Tritons’ best race of the day came from the novice division. UCSD’s novice team of Nick Marongiu, Matt Crow, Jared Vubotia, Bobby Babcock, Chris McKinney, Peter Magganas, Al Abrahamsen, Patrick Gruwell and coxswain Shannon Oliver shook off a tough start to finish first in the novice petite division.
Eliminated from the finals by a strong field in their first heat, the Tritons bounced back to capture the petite division and finish seventh overall. Despite the seventh-place overall finish, UCSD finished only behind Orange Coast College out of non-Division I teams.
“”The novice team did a great job,”” Phillipone said. “”Their performance showed a lot of promise for our program. We’ll get another shot at OCC.””
The Triton men rounded out the Crew Classic with two disappointing finishes. In the open division, the Triton team of eight came in last in its heat and did not advance, while the same fate befell the Triton junior varsity squad.
“”It was a disappointing weekend,”” said junior varsity rower Scott Nuccio. “”We definitely have room to improve. We have nowhere to go but up from here.””
But the Tritons won’t go anywhere this weekend, returning to the home waters of Mission Bay to compete against crosstown rivals USD and SDSU in the San Diego City Championships. The gun fires Saturday at 7 a.m.