UCSD men’s crew went to the Newport Invitational in the North Lido channel of Newport Beach, Calif., last weekend. The Tritons didn’t bring any boats of four, but the three boats of eight that made the trip north were all smiles.
In the varsity race, the Tritons finished second to Orange Coast College, which won by seven seconds.
“”Orange Coast has a lot of speed,”” said UCSD coach Michael Filippone. “”They’ve shown that they’re the best team in our league.””
However, in its second-place finish, UCSD found redemption by beating crosstown rival USD, which had previously upset the Tritons in the San Diego City Championships only one week before.
“”We had a very consistent piece,”” said junior coxswain Catherine Stringer. “”Beating USD by four seconds was definitely a confidence booster.””
The Tritons had problems at the beginning of the race when a sailboat split their boat off from the rest of the race. But the team regained its rhythm and composure and recovered for the second-place finish.
“”Even though we came in second, this was the best race we’ve had all season,”” Stringer said.
In the first novice division, the UCSD men held off Orange Coast College and UC Irvine to win by three seconds. The victory avenged a loss earlier in the season to OCC.
“”They’ll be the top-ranked novice boat going into the West Coast Championships,”” Filippone said.
To round out the field, the newly assembled second novice team finished the day with a victory of its own, beating Chapman University by a mere 0.7 seconds.
“”What we have is essentially a new configuration of people that turned out to work really, really well,”” said freshman rower David Breslauer. “”We were very confident and moved very well together.””
The race started with Chapman and Orange Coast ahead of UCSD, but with 1,200 meters to go, UCSD found its groove and passed OCC. With 200 meters left, Chapman still had the advantage, but a final Triton surge gave UCSD the victory by less than a second.
“”This is the strongest weekend we’ve ever had in Newport,”” Filippone said. “”We’re looking forward to the Western Championships.””
The Western Championships will be held in Sacramento on Lake Natoma on May 4 and 5. Start time is 7 a.m.
