In preparation for the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association finals this coming weekend, Triton men’s crew had one final meet on April 29, the Newport Invitational. Although varsity improved over their past meet, it was unable to row its way into the finals. The novice eight came in second only to Orange Coast Crew, the No. 1 freshman squad in Southern California.

The Newport Invitational, held in Newport Harbor, included teams from UCLA, USC, UC Irvine, Loyola Marymount and Orange Coast College. The meet began with heats set up as a straight line to the finals, the equivalent to single elimination for crews.

Varsity fell behind in the start of the 2,000-meter race, but after 500 meters, was able to keep the speed of the other crews.

“”Overall we had a better race than last week, but it was not enough to get us into the finals,”” said UCSD head coach Mike Filippone. “”I love coaching this group, despite the setbacks. Every athlete comes to practice each day completely committed to going faster.””

For the first time since Eric Hardman’s injury, the varsity team was able to pool its individual strength and find consistent speed.

“”I am sticking with the lineup; it’s my policy to build a team and let them gel together and find their speed,”” Filippone said.

Filippone has decided to keep the varsity lineup and “”concentrate on starts”” throughout this week. This will help the team be more competitive off the line at WIRA.

“”I was again impressed with the novice, they had a great performance again,”” Filippone said.

The novice team kept pace throughout the race and finished only three seconds behind Orange Coast, beating UCLA, UCI and USC.

“”Our goal at WIRA for the novice is to improve to beat Orange Coast. The novice squad has done an incredible job racing and gaining speed each week, which shows great promise for our future,”” Filippone said.

This coming weekend, the UCSD crews head up to Sacramento to participate in the WIRAs. The boats are set, and will just be working on gelling and finding and improving their speed throughout the week.

“”We will be entering some new boats besides the traditional eights. We should get good speed out of a novice four, lightweight four and a varsity four,”” Filippone said.

The novice lightweight four will also be one of the top contending lineups of the weekend, maintaining the chance of being nationally ranked.