Somebody better tell the Orange Coast College men’s varsity eight crew team to look out behind them, because UCSD is catching up fast. The Tritons entered the Newport Regatta on April 25 determined to undermine the 8.85-second advantage OCC boasted at the April 4 San Diego City Championship Grand Final race. The result was a blazing-fast UCSD boat that cut the Pirates’ lead to 4.1 seconds, as the Tritons completed the 2,000-meter course in 6 minutes, 19.1 seconds under near-perfect conditions at Newport Harbor.
“[OCC] has a really fast start,” freshman Brenden Carriker said. “After that, we just pretty much stayed close. We didn’t let them walk all over us.”
The improvement gives UCSD a great shot at winning the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship race on May 2, where the boat will again face OCC and other division rivals UC Davis and Gonzaga.
“The varsity eight is seeded third behind OCC, which is first, and UC Davis,” head coach Mark Davis said. “Gonzaga is seeded fourth, but any of those four can win [the Grand Finals] because there is not a lot of difference in the speed between them.”
The Tritons have confidence in their ability to compete in the May 2 race on Lake Natoma in Sacramento, Calif., when the team will be fully tapered and in top form.
“[On April 25] we improved about five seconds, but one of our varsity eight rowers was sick, so we are probably faster than we showed,” Davis said.
Sophomore stroke seat Todd Myer missed the April 25 race due to illness, which caused the Tritons to have to rearrange the rowers. Because the stroke seat is the eighth position in the boat, closest to the coxswain at the stern, all of the seven rowers behind the stroke seat base the rhythm of their strokes off of his rate.
To compensate for the absence of Myer, Davis moved freshman Michael Zurko from the junior varsity boat to the varsity eight, and moved sophomore co-captain Eric Kuhle to the stroke seat.
“[Zurko] performed very well,” senior co-captain Eric Hardeman said. “We weren’t any slower. I though we stepped up to the challenge really well.”
The Triton’s improvement ,despite lacking a key component of the eight-man squad, demonstrates the definite threat that UCSD poses against rival teams.
“We were rowing in a lineup that we had only tried once before the race,” Carriker said, “but it worked out fine.”
The Tritons’ varsity eight outstroked San Diego State, which finished third in 6:24.9, by more than five seconds. UC Irvine took fourth in the closely matched heat, followed by UCSB and UCLA in fifth and sixth place, respectively.
UCSD’s men’s crew program has developed steadily this season, as the junior varsity and novice rowers are demonstrating that they, too, are a viable threat.
At the Newport Regatta, the JV eight finished second to OCC, posting a time of 6:25.9 to the Pirates’ 6:19.5.
“We gained about 10 seconds [on OCC] in the JV race,” Davis said.
This improvement lands the junior varsity boat in striking distance of the top-seeded OCC team.
“Our JV boat is seeded fifth [at the WIRA Championships], but I think we can definitely finish in the top three if they race to their potential,” Davis said.
The Tritons have a remarkably young team considering how competitive their race times are.
“The JV boat is made up of six freshmen, one sophomore and a junior,” Davis said. “But the sophomore and junior are both second-year rowers.”
The Tritons’ novice eight finished the April 25 race in fourth place in a field of six boats with a time of 6:44.7, 15.1 seconds behind heat-winner USC, which finished in 6:29.6. The novice team is seeded sixth in its WIRA heat for the May 1 and May 2 regatta.
“Our novice boat has been showing a lot of improvement this season,” Davis said. “I think that they can probably finish in the top four [at the WIRA regatta].”
All three teams have cut back their practice schedules slightly in order to prepare for the upcoming WIRA Championships.
“The teams are tapering this week,” Davis said. “We’re dropping the volume of practices, but the intensity is picking up.”
The Tritons are ready to cap off the 2004 WIRA conference season in style.
“We want to give [OCC, UC Davis and Gonzaga] a run for their money,” Carriker said. “We’re feeling good, we have a fast lineup and, assuming that the weather is calm, it’s going to be a fast race.”
After the May 1 and May 2 WIRA Championship regatta, the Tritons will travel to Worcester, Mass., to compete at the East Coast Athletic Conference National Invitational Regatta on May 8 to partake in the national championships.
