Last weekend, UCSD’s women’s crew competed in the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association’s finals in Sacramento.
The Tritons competed in eight races. The lightweight eight team finished third and received the bronze medal. The lightweight four finished fourth in its race. The novice eight boat finished second and received the silver medal. The second novice eight won its race and finished as champions. The novice four finished 17th overall. The varsity four finished fourth. The varsity eight boat finished 18th and the second varsity eight boat finished 14th.
“”The WIRA Championships is the final regatta for the bulk of the squad, and the key regatta for the novices,”” said UCSD head coach Patti Pinkerton
The lightweight eight finished in third place behind SDSU and UC Berkeley with a time of 7:35.5. The Tritons included coxswain Claire Romelfanger, Emily Gray, Tess Kornfield, Liz Jones, Liz Record, Stephanie Wuerz, Jamaica Grace-Bishop, Lauren Ruiz and Mel Kaelberer.
The lightweight four boat of Gray, Kornfield, Claire Doyle and Liz Jones, with coxswain Phoebe Lee, finished fourth of six boats with a time of 7:59.2.
“”We improved a lot from the heat to the final,”” said Liz Jones, who also competed in the varsity four and lightweight eight races. “”The final race on Sunday felt really solid and powerful; even though we didn’t medal, I was very happy with the race itself. Regarding the upcoming Division II Nationals in Indianapolis, I think we can qualify if we pull together and work hard over the next two weeks. We have a lot of talent on our squad, so I definitely believe we can make it.””
The varsity eight boat, consisting of Gray, Jen Hasty, Sarah Smolley, Amber Hopkins, Stefanie Barriere, Natalie Seitz, Morgan Dawirs, Alexis Kleckner and coxswain Doyle, raced in the third final on May 3, finishing 18th.
“”The varsity eight … finished well off the pace,”” Pinkerton said. “”It was a deeply disappointing race, as we lost to crews that we had beaten before, and we lost by a big margin.””
Captain Sara Patton was sick and had to be replaced by Hopkins. Smolley competed, but became sick shortly thereafter.
“”I’m sure there was some effect there,”” Pinkerton said, referring to the disappointing finish. “”But frankly, neither one of those illnesses would have accounted for the huge change in boat speed. The crew itself just did not extend itself when it needed to. As a result, we have slipped badly in the rankings, and I will be contemplating wholesale changes in the lineups.””
The second varsity eight boat finished at 14th place. Anne Roddy, Kornfield, Monica Miller, Joyce Chang, Kaelberer, Record, Bryn Moser, Lauren Cooper and coxswain Romelfanger represented UCSD in this race.
The varsity four finished in fourth place. UCSD’s boat included coxswain Romelfanger, Jen Watters, Amanda Shirley, Record and Liz Jones.
“”Everything came together this weekend,”” said Moser, member of the novice four and second varsity eight. “”All the hard work and dedication we’ve put in this year paid off, and just watching our boats out there, you could tell.””
The novice four boat, coxswain Jen Hildebrand, Megan Kelly, Alicia Bennett, Merrilee Parnell and Moser, finished fifth in the third final.
The novice eight won the silver medal, defeating UC Santa Barbara, Humboldt State, Pacific Lutheran and local rival USD. UC Davis finished first at 7:05.1 and UCSD finished at a time of 7:12.14. UCSD’s boat included coxswain Hildebrand, Stephanie Wuerz, Kara Kuebert, Megan McCarty, Kelly Rayome, Karri Davis, Becky Gianotti, Ashley Adams and Dannon Hodge.
“”Everyone worked as one and we accomplished more then any novice squad before us. I feel we walked away with more than just medals,”” Davis said.
The coach agreed.
“”It was an outstanding performance for the athletes, and the best finish of a novice eight in memory,”” Pinkerton said. “”They raced against 22 scholarship schools, and beat all but one of them.””
Coxswain Arianna Pilram, Ruiz, Katie Morris, Sarah Jones, Alex Lloyd, Carly Moore, Kelly, Bennett and Grace-Bishop competed in the second novice eight race.
“”Davis was ahead in the beginning, but after the first few hundred meters, the girls pulled together and decided to give Davis a real race,”” Pilram said. “”Showing the same effort and more from the city championship races a few weeks ago, the girls began to ‘walk away’ from Davis around 750 meters … for the remainder of the race we continued to push through until we even established a gap of open water between our boats.””
The boat finished in first place, making the team both champions and one of the most successful novice teams in UCSD history.
“”All of us were so happy at the end of the race and hearing the crowds, and our teammates cheering for us told us they were feeling the same things we were,”” Grace-Bishop said.
Pinkerton, who had high hopes for this boat, echoes congratulations for this race.
“”The second novice eight won their race in fine fashion by open water [by more than a boat length] beating UC Davis, currently the top D-II school in the nation, so they deserve full marks for an outstanding race,”” Pinkerton said.
Gray, who rowed for the lightweight eight, lightweight four and varsity eight was honored by being named to the WIRA Second Team.
For the National Collegiate Athletic Association selection regatta in two weeks, Pinkerton will break up the novice team and merge them with the varsity members.
The team will return to Sacramento on May 17 to compete in the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships.
“”The rankings are important, but the results from the NCAA qualifier (PCRCs) are the standard that will be used to select the squad,”” Pinkerton said.
