The Triton women’s crew team broke a school record May 7 at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships, held at Lake Natoma, Calif. For the first time in the sport’s history at UCSD, the varsity team broke the seven-minute barrier, finishing the race at six minutes, 54.9 seconds.

“The performance was transformational,” head coach Pattie Pinkerton said. “They did the race into a headwind, so really it’s five seconds or two boat-lengths faster.”

Senior Elizabeth Record won a collegiate senior gold medal, a conference title. Teammate junior Mel Kaelberer received a silver medal for the same honor.

The varsity eight-boat finished in second place, while the varsity four-boat took third place in the weekend’s competition.

Pinkerton called the performance of the varsity eight-boat very strong, and added that the performance “puts us in a very good position to get a bid for the National Championships.”

The varsity eight-boat — composed of senior Anne Roddy, junior Megan Kelly, senior captain Sarah Smolley, junior Cara Kuebert, sophomore Leah Llach, freshman Vanessa Jansen, senior Christine Kine, junior Dannon Hodge and senior coxswain Arianna Pilram — pressed No. 1-ranked Western Washington University throughout the race. Western Washington finished in first place at 6:44.3. The Tritons’ varsity eight finished before last year’s silver medalist, Humboldt State, which finished the race at 7:03.4.

“We have been posting some terrific times in training,” Pinkerton said. “It was exciting to see the women put it together in the race and pull a record time. Our goal as a crew was to break seven minutes this year, and to do it by five seconds, into a headwind, is awesome.”

The race was critical since it was the final opportunity for the Triton women to secure a bid for the NCAA Division II Championships. It was equally exciting for the squad since UCSD has been closing in on Western Washington and Humboldt State, its main rivals, all season. The results from this weekend move the Tritons into second place in the region for the varsity-eight competition.

The varsity four-boat — made up of Record, Kaelberer, sophomore Megan Hatlen, sophomore Helenaz Moteabbed and junior coxswain Phoebe Lee — also had an impressive weekend. Their performance warranted a jump into third place at the regional level. Western Washington took an early lead, leaving UCSD in a battle for second place against Humboldt State, which managed to edge away from the Tritons in the last 600 meters of the race.

“The crew rowed a technically strong race and rowed hard,” Pinkerton said. “But they’ll need to find more of an edge to make their mark if we get an NCAA bid.”

The team will find out May 17 whether it will compete in the NCAA Division II Championships, to be held May 26 through May 29 at Lake Natoma.