The UCSD women’s crew has been steadily climbing the ladder toward becoming one of the best collegiate crews in the country. The Tritons lightweight eight crew is ranked No. 13 nationally. The varsity eight is ranked fourth in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II. Under head coach Patti Pinkerton’s training, the team has competitive juniors and seniors for the first time.
“”The juniors and seniors on the team are good for the first time [in my coaching time here],”” Pinkerton said. “”It takes about three years to perfect skills.””
On April 5 and April 6, UCSD competed in the San Diego Crew Classic at Mission Bay, against some of the top crew teams in the country, including Princeton, Stanford and UC Berkeley, as well as local rivals USD and SDSU. The Crew Classic was the biggest regatta of the season and one of the last regattas before a competitive post-season.
On April 5, UCSD competed in four races and qualified for races the next day.
In the collegiate lightweight heat B, UCSD finished last with a time of 8:17.27. Stanford’s A boat finished first with 7:35.8, Villanova at 7:38.99, Cal at 7:53.58 and CSU Long Beach with 7:56.86.
UCSD also competed in the collegiate II/III preliminary race. UC Davis finished first with a time of 7:37.8, UCSD finished second with 7:52.83, Humboldt third at 7:54.12 and Chapman finished last with a time of 8:12.99.
In the women’s collegiate novice heat C, UCSD finished fourth out of seven boats. The boats finished in the following order: Cal at 7:27.8, Oregon State at 7:47.36, USC at 7:59.71, UCSD at 8:21.45, Orange Coast College with 8:26.27, Southern Methodist with 8:31.83 and UC Irvine finished last with 8:34.99.
The last race was the collegiate open heat C race. Texas finished first with 7:44.1, Lake Washington at 7:47.63, ZLAC Cruz at 8:07.17, UCSD at 8:10.47 and Chapman last with 8:50.88.
The next day, the Tritons competed in the races based on how they had finished the previous day.
UCSD competed in the women’s collegiate novice petite race, which included rival USD. St. Joseph’s finished first at 7:14.3, UCD second at 7:19.05, USC at 7:19.74, Stanford third at 7:21.80, UCSD fifth at 7:27.36 and USD finished just after with 7:27.62.
In the women’s open petite, UCSD finished last at 7:43.31, behind Newport AC at 7:26.00, Lake Union at 7:29.56, Bair Island at 7:31.63, Davis Alum at 7:32.34 and ZLAC Cruz at 7:42.33.
In the collegiate lightweight petite, CSULB finished first at 7:18.5, Stanford second at 7:32.04 and UCSD third 7:37.72.
In last race, the collegiate II/III final, UCD came in at 7:09.5, UCSD second with 7:28.78, Humboldt at 7:38.78 and Chapman at 7:42.94.
The Tritons’ next regatta, the San Diego City Championships, is April 19. UCSD will compete against city rivals USD and SDSU.
