Novice rowing beats USC, goes undefeated in season

As the UCLA women’s novice eight boat approached the 1000m
mark of its race against No. 8 USC last weekend, the only thing it
could hear was the Trojan fight song.

That was just more fuel for the fire.

“They brought their annoying band, which was quite a
distraction at the middle of the race, so it was nice to humiliate
them,” novice eight boat coxswain Arianna Combs said.

“As we went by them, I turned the cox box up so they could
hear me yell that they had the worst fight song ever ““ I
wanted them to know that this was our turf.”

For the novice eight boat, Combs’ antics were a motivating
factor. It went on to capture UCLA’s only victory against the
Trojans in four races at Saturday’s dual meet with a time of
6:28.7 ““ 10 seconds ahead of USC. That victory also capped
off a perfect season in dual meets for the Bruin novice boat, which
has dominated opponents all season.

“Any time you can go through the whole season undefeated,
that’s pretty amazing,” UCLA assistant coach Bill Zack
said. “Beating USC was great too, because of the emphasis on
the rivalry, and it will pay dividends in the future as these girls
move up to the varsity boats.”

While that bodes well for the future, this year’s Bruin
rowers have reason to hold their heads high after this weekend.
Even in defeat, every boat recorded season-best performances. In an
earlier statement, UCLA women’s rowing head coach Amy Fuller
had remarked that her team would likely finish 15 to 20 seconds
behind its USC counterparts. The varsity eight boat smashed that
prediction, finishing nine seconds back in 6:26.16, after pacing
the Trojans for the first half of the race.

“The varsity boat, to be nine seconds behind USC, is a
really good step for them at this point,” Fuller said.
“They had a good race today, they executed the whole thing
for 2000m. … They should be proud of stepping up to a whole other
level.”

The race could have been closer, too. At the start, a
miscommunication on the Bruin boat and the officials meant that USC
jumped out to an early lead. However, UCLA quickly sorted itself
out, and began to creep up on the Trojans. Unfortunately, after
gaining back a half seat length at the halfway point of the race,
the Bruins were unable to keep pace as the powerful Trojan rowers
surged ahead.

“Our rowers just aren’t as big and strong,”
Fuller said. “They did a really good job, though, of staying
in and challenging USC, a team with a lot more strength and
power.”

The two other races of the meet saw the varsity four boats and
the second varsity eight boat in action. In the former, UCLA
entered two boats that placed 11 and 12 seconds behind USC’s
boat, which finished the race in 7:24.6. In the latter race, the
second varsity eight boat turned in a good performance, but was no
match for the Trojans which finished 26 seconds ahead in
6:29.7.

Altogether, UCLA was able to succeed in its plan: to field the
strongest varsity and novice boats at the event according to Combs.
While this meant that the other Bruin boats weren’t as deep,
it does mean that in the upcoming years, as the strong novice
rowers move into varsity seats, UCLA will be able to challenge the
Trojans more effectively.

“We’re hoping that for some of the novices, they can
go four years without ever losing to USC,” Fuller said.
“Next year, when they return to the program, we’ll have
that many more people who are going to be trying to beat USC, and
they will have that expectation.”

USC’s overall victory in the meet meant that it captured
the last regular season points for the Lexus Gauntlet trophy, tying
the yearlong score at 55.0-55.0 points for each school. Points are
awarded after every head to head competition between the schools in
sporting events. The winner of the trophy will be determined after
postseason matches are completed, with UCLA currently leading the
tie-breakers.