Reloading, not rebuilding

Starting off this season with a relatively young Gold Squad, the
UCLA women’s rowing team is looking to rebuild its depth and
its cohesiveness without the leadership of the seniors who
graduated last year.

UCLA coach Amy Fuller Kearney hopes to create team
homogeneity””mdash;getting the entire team on the same page and
performing on the same level.

After placing at the NCAA Rowing Championships for the first
time last season (15th), the women’s rowing team anticipates
improving its rank this year by setting their standards higher.

“We’re trying to win an NCAA invite out of the
Pac-10 Conference,” Kearney said.

Although the team’s senior leadership is gone, Kearney
points to three outstanding rowers that she believes will steer the
team in the right direction.

Named to the Pac-10 All-Academic First Team, Elizabeth
Pallas-Jacobs, stroke-leader of the first varsity eight team, is
the only returning senior. Kearney is glad to have
Pallas-Jacobs’ leadership back this season.

“I hope (Pallas-Jacobs) will set the rhythm again,”
Kearney said.

Among other outstanding athletes are sophomore first varsity
eight member Erin Haggerty, whom Kearney hopes will contribute a
lot of power this year and freshman Wisconsin-native first varsity
eight member Vanessa Teff.

The team’s increasing depth was evident during the
tournament held on Nov. 5 at the Head of the Marina in Marina Del
Rey. The Bruins competed against many of the local teams that train
there including Loyola Marymount University and UC Irvine.

UCLA’s first varsity eight finished first with a time of
18:00.0, followed by their second varsity eight with a time of
18:51.0 in the open eight event. UCLA’s novice eight placed
first in their event.

“It was a low-key race. Our main competitors were LMU and
UCI. It was a practice event to prepare for next weekend’s
race,” Kearney said.

On Nov. 6, the Bruins faced a wider range of competition from
schools all over California including Sacramento State and UC Davis
at the Newport Autumn Rowing Festival held in Newport Beach.

This broader range of schools did not throw the Bruins off
track; UCLA’s first varsity eight finished first with a time
of 15:55.0 while the second varsity eight finished fifth with a
time of 16:34.0 in the open eight event.

For the third consecutive year, UCLA’s novice eight placed
first (17:17.0) in their event, barely defeating the USC Trojans by
three seconds.

“All three boats did really well,” Haggerty said.
“It was nice to win first place. We expected to win this
race.”

Next weekend the team will be rowing at the Head of the Lake in
Seattle, Washington on Nov. 13. This race will give the team a good
idea of how far along they are by comparing themselves against
renowned schools.

“We’re really excited,” Kearney said.

“This is like a reward for those who did summer training.
It’s also an opportunity to race against top schools such as
Yale and Stanford.”