Bruin squad shows its promise at Cup finals
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 28, 2002 9:00 p.m.
ANGIE LEVINE/Daily Bruin UCLA women’s rowing pushed forward with
their development at Saturday’s Miller Cup in Marina del Rey. It is
UCLA’s last race before the Pac-10 Championship in Sacramento.
By Jessica Bach
Daily Bruin Contributor
You could say it was an unusual day at the marina.
Swarms of bees, afro-wigged fans, and the Bruins rowers, who
were proving they are true contenders who can hold their own with
the rest of the pack.
Craziness everywhere.
As a first-year varsity team, UCLA women’s rowing athletes
are not expected to win the Pac-10 title anytime soon, nor have
they predicted any other big victories this season. But
Saturday’s Miller Cup at Marina del Rey featured the
Bruins’ promise for the future, as they performed their best
against tough teams, establishing that they cannot be dismissed
anymore.
“We wanted to take back the creek,” sophomore
Heather McCluskey said, referring to the 12-year drought by
the Bruins, who had won the Cup 13 times before in the 27-year
history of the event. “We wanted to prove we have business
being here, and I think we did that by really stepping
up.”
Though they didn’t win the Cup, the Bruin Varsity 8 came
in fourth place. There were also three second places finishes, and
the Novice 8 went on to win their division.
Madness maybe?
“Today for the first time they really believed that
“˜You know what? We don’t have to be
behind,'” Bruin head coach Amy Fuller said.
“That’s a really exciting mark for us.”
Besides the excitement of UCLA’s four of five boats
qualifying for the Grand Finals, the Bruins were really given an
advantage with the home crowd support.
“The home crowd was really great for us,” varsity
junior Jamila Hammad said. “They really fired us up for the
last 1000 meters as we passed by.”
One group present not supporting the Bruins, but rather UC
Irvine, was the Road Trip Crew. Dressed in wild outfits and afros,
Park Williams, Brian Osbourne and Salman Syev started their trek at
5 a.m., trying to boost encouragement for not only UCI but for
rowing in general.
“Rowing does not get enough support,” Williams said.
“We think such a team-oriented sport like this should draw
bigger crowds.”
The crowd that was there was also joined by some uninvited
guests as a swarm of bees quickly passed through the event, luckily
not taking the time to hurt anyone.
The day began with the Novice 4 division. The Bruins
qualified for the Grand Final when they raced to a second place
finish with a time of 9:04.3, seven seconds behind first place San
Diego State.
The Varsity 4 boat also finished second in the Grand Finals in
8:56.6, but UC San Diego won in 8:48.3.
Both the Varsity and Novice 4s have not had much experience
competing this season and were very satisfied with their
performance.
“I was very proud of them,” Fuller said. “I
don’t think that many people expected us to do as well as we
did against some of these teams.”
In the Varsity 8 division, the rowers qualified for the Petite
Final, the second set of finals under the Grand Final.
UCLA came out victorious and thereby earned a fourth place
overall finish in the Miller Cup, which SDSU won.
“In the Petite Finals, we had a very good dynamic,”
Hammad said. “We really put the power in and stepped up the
race.”
The JV 8, stacked with some Second Novice rowers, also lost to
SDSU, who dominated throughout the day. But the Bruins only lost by
three seconds to the Aztecs who finished in 7:32.5.
But it was the Novice 8 boat that really gave a glimpse of the
future of the program, winning the Grand Final in style by more
than six seconds over SDSU and eight seconds over UCSD, with a time
of 7:28.1.
“There were several girls in our boat not feeling their
best,” novice junior Dawn Regan said. “But we raced
really hard and focused on that die-hard attitude that nobody was
going to beat us.”
The rowers will use Saturday’s accomplishments at the
Miller Cup, UCLA’s last race before the Pac-10 Championship
in Sacramento, to spur motivation for the championships.
“After today, we are really confident and I hope we can
make a statement out there,” Regan said. “Coach
(Fuller) has put a lot of hard work into us and we would like
nothing more than to go out there and have a really good race to
prove we are the up and coming Bruins.”
