The UCSD women’s crew team performed well in the annual San Diego City Championships on April 17, competing against cross-town rivals San Diego State University and University of San Diego.
With UCSD battling an incoming tide, the women’s varsity eight finished third with a time of 7 minutes, 37.43 seconds in the first race of the day.
“I was very pleased with the varsity eight’s race … our goal was to continue to press the stroke rating up, even if it was uncomfortable,” UCSD head coach Pattie Pinkerton said.
Though the Tritons fared well against both SDSU and USD, the rough rowing conditions proved problematic and aggravating, which hurt the consistency of the team’s performance.
The varsity eight boat came off the starting line at a strong 42 strokes-per-minute, staying with USD and San Diego State for the first 1,200 meters of the race.
For the majority of the race, the UCSD varsity eight boat held a rating of 34 strokes-per-minute, which was UCSD’s intended race pace.
Although this was a strong initial performance, the team gradually began to decelerate in the face of increasingly unfavorable racing conditions, falling noticeably behind San Diego State and USD.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to hold that intensity for the entire race. The crew felt they lost the spark as the other crews inched away, and we finished further back than I would have liked after that terrific first two-thirds of the race,” Pinkerton said.
The varsity line-up at the meet included senior Claire Romelfanger as the coxswain, junior Sarah Smolley as the stroke and seniors Liz Jones and Alexis Kleckner, junior Anne Roddy and sophomores Cara Kuebert, Meghan Kelly, Lauren Ruiz and Dannon Hodge at bow.
“I would say, after last week’s sea racing and this week’s sea racing, we have nearly nailed down the varsity eight line-up,” Pinkerton said. “We learned from this race, and we know that we have to go all out, all the way. “
USD won the women’s varsity eight event, coming in at 7:08.27. San Diego State was in second place, crossing the line in 7:11.50.
“This regatta is always a tough one for us … the difference for [UCSD] is that we are scholar athletes racing against scholarship athletes,” Pinkerton said.
The women’s junior varsity eight crossed the line in a time of 7:53.34, also finishing third, while the women’s lightweight eight finished second with a time of 8:19.12.
“The junior varsity eight also raced well, finishing within 20 seconds of the other schools, closer than we did a few weeks ago at the [March 27 Newport Harbor] Berg Cup,” Pinkerton said.
UCSD’s difficult early morning workouts have certainly paid off.
In the most recent Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/U.S. Rowing polls, UCSD ranked second among Division II competitors.
“We trained through the regatta, with our eye on the Western Intercollegiate Rowing [Association] Championships in two weeks,” Pinkerton said.
Rather than training in anticipation of an easy victory against its very strong competition, the team has been focused on preparing for the approaching WIRA Championships, and is expecting further improvement in its future meets.
“Our times should improve over the next race against Chapman and UC Santa Barbara,” senior Jennifer Watters said.
Although Division I UCSB beat UCSD at the Berg Cup in March, the Tritons, with the home advantage and several athletes graduating, would like to finish with a victory.
The meet will mark the final home race for a large number of women’s crew veterans, including senior four-year rowers Stefanie Barriere, Liz Jones, Kleckner, Watters and Romelfanger.
UCSD returns to action on April 24, taking on Chapman and UCSB in Mission Bay.
