The UCSD men’s crew met at Tecolote Shores again on March 8 for its second dual meet. Warm and placid water provided perfect conditions for the novice races that started in the morning, and wins increased. Although warm and placid water provided perfect conditions for the novice races that started in the morning, winds increased as the varsity eight race began. The Tritons again entered two novice fours, a lightweight and open weight, a JV eight and the varsity eight that carried the program.
The lightweight four, which includes Vince Davies, Landen Hawke, Thomas Garcia, Deven Gaffney and coxswain Zack Mosenan, again won the entire novice four race with a time of 8:13, which “”is the quintessential David and Goliath story,”” according to assistant coach David Mac. The open weight four (Scott Toepfer, Ben Wang, Terral Ayson-Beanum, Will Stuart and coxswain Kevin Williams) followed 14 seconds behind with a time of 8:27, leaving Long Beach State in the dust, which trailed by 13 seconds.
Long Beach defeated UCSD in the closest race of the day, the JV eight, by four seconds. Adam Holmze, Spencer Chen, Zach Grounds, Denaro Fobbs, Klint Wayland, Mitch De Gues, Steven Oliver and Tod Meyer were coxed by Alicia Zupick. The Tritons’ novice eight was placed in this race because Long Beach did not race a novice eight.
“”It was basically racing our inexperienced, novice guys against their experienced guys, and we did quite well,”” said UCSD head coach Michael Fillipone.
As the wind picked up, the varsity eight (Eric Kuhle, Scott Destafney, Eric Hardeman, Robert Babcock, David Breslaur, Patrick Grill, Mat Crow, Dan Toth and coxswain Shannon Oliver) paddled out to the start.
“”Both boats in the varsity race had speed. Long Beach simply had a faster start and finish,”” Fillipone said. “”We were right with them in the middle.””
The race was close, and UCSD fell to Long Beach by five seconds.
Fillipone still has tons of confidence in the varsity program.
“”We can work on our starts and finishes; we just need to put it all together in one race, and we will have tons of speed,”” he said.
With the first two dual meets over, Fillipone looks at the beginning of the season as a success.
“”This early in the season, we are only looking for a competitive event to get the guys some race practice,”” Fillipone said.
The next race is the San Diego Crew Classic, held during the first week in April, which the team will prepare for throughout spring break.
