Women’s rowing strides over LMU Lions for second win of the season

UCLA women’s rowing continued to outperform its opponents early in the 2016 season with another clean sweep over the weekend.

The Bruins had a dual meet against the Loyola Marymount Lions on Saturday morning at Marina del Rey. The home team raced its varsity eight, second varsity eight, varsity four A and B and second varsity four A and B boats. Each boat for UCLA was faster than LMU by 15 seconds or more.

“Every day is about getting the most speed under us no matter what,” said senior first varsity eight coxswain Logan Warwick.

The first varsity eight boat had no trouble gaining a lead early in the race and beat the Lions with a time of 7:10.35. The time was enough to comfortably win, but – battling a headwind – it was a little under than a minute slower than the boat’s previous race against San Diego State.

“We haven’t shifted our focus from solid training to accomplishing the fastest boat speed so that’s still a process,” said coach Amy Fuller Kearney. “That will continue to progress as we go through the year.”

UCLA raced on the same course for the past two dual meets, but each boat for the Bruins had a slower time compared to their previous meet. The women said there was still improvement, as they are more comfortable racing together now than before.

“It took a while because we changed up the lineups, but we are comfortable now,” said senior varsity four port Katie Kidder. “We were more together and really competitive this time.”

The past two meets are the only ones that the Bruins get to race on their own water this season. The women and Fuller Kearney said that the different locations and weather conditions of their next regattas will not affect how they perform.

“We take anything that comes our way and run with it, so no matter the course, no matter the conditions, we’re not fazed,” Warwick said.

Fuller Kearney added that it is natural to need more progress when it is this early in the season and the different locations will have no bearing on how fast the girls can go.

“I think with every race comes new experiences that we can grow from,” Warwick said.

The second varsity four race was between UCLA’s A and B boats, rather than LMU. The first finished with a time of 8:51.54 and the second finished with a time of 9:04.10. Both boats were filled with first-year women who competed for the first time collegiately.

While Saturday’s race was the first for some, it was the last home meet for the seniors – a bittersweet moment for both the coach and the players. Each senior had advice for the younger girls on the team but – just weeks into racing season – it’s not a goodbye just yet.

Email Olin at [email protected] or tweet her @tiffany_olin.