UCSD men’s crew competed in its last race of the season, the San Diego City Championships, on Saturday at Mission Bay. With the women’s team choosing not to compete, it was up to the men to represent the Tritons.
The morning started with the novice-four race. The Tritons came close to San Diego State University, but couldn’t overtake the Aztecs, falling by seven seconds.
“”I was proud of the way they raced,”” said coxswain Allison Peters. “”We know we could have raced better, but I like the way this group works together.””
The most successful boat for the Tritons was the novice-eight boat. After winning the novice petite division title at last week’s San Diego Crew classic, the novice group not only won its division, but the second varsity division as well. The UCSD junior varsity-eight boat finished fourth in the second varsity division.
“”Our novice team raced very well,”” said UCSD coach Mike Filippone. “”They got the lead and didn’t let up.””
Unfortunately for the Tritons, the same couldn’t be said of the varsity-eight boat, which finished a disappointing second place to University of San Diego in its race.
After leading for the first 500 meters, UCSD seemed to let up and gave the Toreros an opening. USD quickly grabbed the advantage.
“”We had the lead in the first half of the race,”” Filippone said. “”USD found a way to get back into the race and we let them. It’s not a race we should have lost, but it will make us better. As a team we had a good day.””
However, the Triton coach wasn’t happy with the conditions on the bay.
“”Racing in Mission Bay is hard,”” Filippone said. “”The water here isn’t the greatest, but everybody races in relatively the same water, so everybody has to deal with it.””
His point was made when, during a race, teams had to stop rowing as a wakeboarder’s wake came crashing over the boats.
“”We’re looking at changing the venue or at least the course,”” Filippone said.
With two Mission Bay races behind them, Triton crew travels to Newport Harbor next week for the Newport Invitational. Race time is 7 a.m. on April 28.