CREW — The UCSD men’s and women’s crew teams both had strong showings at the 38th annual San Diego Crew Classic this weekend, The Crew Classic draws programs across the nation for the two-day event held at Mission Bay, including powerhouses such as Cal and Stanford.
The highlight of the weekend was UCSD men’s varsity “A” boat, which advanced to the finals of the prestigious Copley Cup. Not only was this a program-first for UCSD, but the Tritons also became the first Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association representative and first San Diego area school in the final. The boat — consisting of Shawn Kuo, Edwin Clement, Drew Lawyer, Brandon Gonzalez, Joey Frank, Erik Smith, Brandon Sparks, Justin Gordon and Drew Madden — finished the race in 6:01.57 to take third place and qualify for the final. The Tritons finished just .5 seconds behind second-place Temple in their heat.
In the final on Sunday, UCSD didn’t have quite as good a run with a fifth-place finish in 6:13.20. Cal edged Stanford to get the victory in 5:54.90.
UCSD’s varsity “B” boat took third place in the prelims of the Sharp Cabrillo Cup to qualify for the Sunday final. The Tritons finished in 6:13.73, only .02 back of second-place Oregon State. The boat finished in 6:17.25 in the final to take fifth place.
The novice eight boat also had a good weekend, taking first in their heat of the prelims for the Derek Guelkar Memorial Cup. The Tritons finished fourth in the final on Sunday, while Cal ran away with the race to get another win.
On the women’s side, two boats advanced to Sunday finals. The varsity eight took second in their heat of the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park Cup on Saturday, recording a time of 7:21.71. The Tritons had a tough time in the final, however, dropping to 7:42.84 to finish in fifth place.
“At this regatta, the team was kind of able to put it all together and execute their racing plan in a really challenging environment,” head coach Patti Pinkerton said. “There’s 50,000 people there, its on the Jumbotron, the races are televised; so they just did a terrific job.”
UCSD’s varsity “B” boat qualified for the petite final on Sunday, despite racing against the other top boats in the prelims. The Tritons took third place in the final heat with a time of 7:56.48, despite the crew from Long Beach State veering into UCSD’s lane.
“They [the “B” boat] did not have a good race on Saturday,” Pinkerton said. “And they were pretty disappointed. The second varsity just did such a great job of turning their boat around. And Julie Montes, a senior, was stroke for the second varsity, and I think her leadership and the entire boat should be commended for rowing such a poised race.”
The men’s team will travel to the Newport Regatta next Saturday, while the women’s team returns to action next weekend in a dual meet against Loyola Marymount.
Readers can contact Liam Rose at [email protected].
