The UCSD women came away with mixed results heading into the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association conference championships April 27 to April 28. The UCSD Varsity 4+ boat, competing in the Division-II and Division-III brackets, crossed the finish line with a time of 7:58.30 to take first in the grand final. Team members included junior coxswain Catherine Sheffler, sophomore Mary Elizabeth Bilder, freshman Shruti Kamath, junior Olivia Knizek and sophomore Rachel Schneiderman.
UCSD also placed first in the collegiate Division II and Division III Varsity 8 petite final, with the JV boat coming out in front with a time of 7:25.12.
In the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park Cup grand final, UCSD’s A Boat finished in fourth (7:16.25). University of Central Oklahoma took first in front of UC Santa Barbara, Humboldt State and Orange Coast College.
“For the [Varsity 8], we have a lot of work we need to do before the conference championships,” senior Ashley Travaglione said. “It could have been a better race, technically, for us, but it wasn’t a bad result. The [Varsity 4], though, just had a great race. Looking forward, though, it’s just going to be a lot of work before going to nationals.”
The UCSD women are currently ranked third in the regional standings behind first-ranked Western Washington University and second-ranked Humboldt State. The top two teams will advance to the national tournament. The UCSD women’s crew team did not qualify for the national tournament last season under former UCSD head coach Pattie Pinkerton. But this season, Travaglione says UCSD may have a better chance under new head coach Colin Truex.
“We’re definitely better this season,” Travaglione said. “The coaching change has been really positive. We just need to be sure that we don’t get complacent in the next few weeks. If we do that and put the work in, then I think we definitely have a good shot at qualifying this season.”