UCLA rowing to face USC in heated race

Unlike the large regattas that have defined most of the spring, this weekend UCLA women’s rowing will compete against only one team – USC. But given the rivalry between the two schools, the competition will likely be as heated as if the race were six lanes across instead of two.

No. 6 UCLA will face off against the top-ranked and undefeated USC Trojans in the Bruins’ last race of the season at their home course in Marina del Rey.

“There’s something very exciting about going into this race with (USC) being ranked No. 1,” said coach Amy Fuller Kearney. “It really puts us in a position of having nothing to lose.”

When these two teams last met, the Trojans beat the Bruins handily in both the first and second varsity eight-person boat races by nearly five seconds in each event.

However, the Bruins’ varsity four-person boat placed second to the Trojans by less than three seconds at the same event, and it’s in smaller-boat events like this one that Kearney said UCLA has a real shot at knocking down the dominant USC team.

“(In the four), it’s gonna be a hard-fought battle and it’s gonna come down to whichever crew had the best day,” Kearney said.

Since this weekend is the team’s last event at home, many of the team’s seniors will say farewell to their home course, but none will have spent as long competing there as senior Alexis McPhee.

McPhee began her rowing career at Marina del Rey as a high school student rowing for the Marina Aquatic Center club team.

When she went to college, she only changed the bay she carried her boat out of as she shifted from rowing for the Marina Aquatic Center to UCLA, who share a boathouse.

But despite the nostalgia of her last race at the marina, she said that it’s important the team goes into this weekend with some confidence.

“Never go into a race scared; always go in excited,” McPhee said.

Senior Alexa Farafontoff, who last competed in the second eight-person boat, also said she’s going into this weekend confident that UCLA has a chance at the upset.

“We’re really just looking to go out there and keep up and hopefully beat them,” she said.

“They’re in first right now and we’re in (sixth), but that doesn’t mean anything out on the water.”

In addition to going into a nothing-to-lose situation, Kearney says her athletes will get an extra ounce of motivation as they go up against such a major rival.

“Not too many people pay attention (to rowing) except for our fans and our families but when it comes to a USC dual race, the audience is much broader,” she said.

“It becomes about the tradition between the two schools, so that’s an extra little motivation and an extra little something to fight for.”