Rowing defeats UCD, Sacramento State

For the first time in over 10 years, the UCLA women’s
rowing team was able to sweep both UC Davis and Sacramento State in
a dual meet and won five out of their seven races this weekend at
the Stanford Invitational.

Although the Bruins were favored to win going into the weekend,
their large margins of victory were surprising.

“I was definitely expecting it to be more of a
race,” UCLA head coach Amy Fuller said.

The varsity eight boat, which captured the Miller Cup last
weekend, was able to let loose on the good conditions afforded by
the Northern California weather and posted two sub-7:00 times.

The first came against UCD, a team they lost to last year at the
Pac-10 championships. At Stanford, however, the Bruins rowed a
6:59.0, a full 14 seconds ahead of Davis.

Still, UCLA could have done better.

“As soon as we saw that we were going to beat them, we
took down the stroke rate,” varsity eight boat co-captain
Irene Condella said. “We wanted to save our energy for the
next race.”

For that next race, the Bruins changed their plan and decided to
race the clock no matter how far ahead they were. They finished the
race in a strong 6:57.90 ““ 14 seconds ahead of Sacramento
State. For the Bruins, however, in a season where reaching their
full potential is more important than winning every race, that time
wasn’t necessarily good enough.

“I kind of wish our second race was faster because it was
only two seconds ahead of our first race time,” Condella
said. “I think there might have been some wind conditions
(that slowed us down), though.”

Fuller, on the other hand, was all smiles.

“I’m really proud of the team for taking such big
steps this year,” Fuller said. “I think that anytime
you’re out there by yourself, it’s a little harder to
continually push hard.”

The novice eight boat also continued this season’s success
by winning both of its races at Stanford. It won its first race
against the Aggies by 15 seconds with a time of 7:07.6. It also
beat the Hornets later in the day although the official times have
not been released.

The second novice eight boat, racing for the first time since
late March, was also able to record a win against UCD in its only
race of the day with a time of 7:30.6. It did not see action
against Sac State.

The two Bruin losses were recorded by the second varsity eight
boat, which has failed to win a race since its season opener
against Long Beach State.

“Depth is one thing we need to develop,” Fuller
said. “We’re going to change the lineup around for the
next couple of races, but I don’t think we’ll be able
to make up 15 seconds.”

This weekend UCLA will travel to Minnesota for its only
intersectional match of the year and a chance to prove its
abilities against a powerful Big-10 team.

“(In a week) I hope I can say that it will be a great
trip, it wasn’t too cold and that the team did an excellent
job,” Fuller joked. “I think that if we get off the
water and say that we got better, we’ll be happy.”