With only a few competitions remaining in the season, women’s crew dominated UC Santa Barbara and Chapman University in preparation for the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships. The Triton women won four of the six events at Newport Harbor, Calif., on April 23.
The varsity-four boat finished first with a time of seven minutes, 57 seconds. The boat, which had undergone lineup revisions, dominated the race from the start, at one point reaching a stroke-per-minute rating of 41, before dropping to a maintenance rating of 32 for the majority of the race. The boat was composed of juniors Katie Morris and Christine King, sophomores Helenaz Moteabbed and Megan Hatlen and junior Phoebe Lee as coxswain. Second-place Chapman finished in 8:19.1, and UC Santa Barbara crossed the line at 8:26.1.
UCSD’s lightweight varsity- four boat also competed in the race as a tuneup before the WIRA Championships, where they will use the same lineup against Pacific Lutheran, Santa Clara and Colorado. Senior Chileshe Mabula was coxswain for the boat, which held juniors Melanie Kaelberer and Arianna Pilram, sophomores Megan Hagquist and Irene Iuppa.
For the varsity-eight boat, the Tritons started off strong against UC Santa Barbara and held on during the beginning of the race, but were unable to match the Gauchos’ speed in the final stages. Like the varsity-four boat, the varsity-eight made some changes in their lineup, going with seniors Sara Smolley, Anne Roddy and Liz Record, juniors Meghan Kelly, Cara Kuebert, Kaelberer and Dannon Hodge, sophomore Leah Llach and Pilram as coxswain. The team crossed the finish line at 7:59.4, nearly 12 seconds behind UC Santa Barbara. Chapman did not enter a varsity-eight boat in the competition.
The novice team performed brilliantly, winning all three races it entered. The first novice- eight boat finished the course in a time of 7:14.0, three seconds before second-place finisher UC Santa Barbara and a full 45 seconds before Chapman.
The second novice-eight boat performed equally well, taking first place with a time of 7:37.3, finishing nearly six seconds before Santa Barbara’s squad. Chapman did not compete in the event. In both novice-eight competitions, the squads were able to finish one boat length before their nearest competition.
The novice-four boat was able to maintain a commanding lead and finished the race 15 boat lengths ahead of the competition. The Tritons crossed the finish line at 9:01.4, compared to UC Santa Barbara and Chapman, who finished the race at 9:45.9 and 10:14.2, respectively.
The Tritons will row in nine different events at the WIRA Championships at Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif., on April 30 and May 1. They will compete among 28 other teams as they vie for a prestigious regional ranking. The Tritons will once again face key Division II rivals — Humboldt State, Western Washington and Seattle Pacific. Results from these championships have a large bearing on invitations to compete at Nationals.
