UCLA rowing celebrates Senior Day with a sweep against USC

The Bruins capped off their Senior Day with a historic performance.

For the first time in program history, No. 19 UCLA rowing (2-0) swept No. 18 USC (1-1) in every race and defeated the Women of Troy for only the second time in a dual meet, with the only other victory coming during the 2011-2012 season.

Competing on Ballona Creek at Marina del Rey for the final time this season, the meet was capped off with a celebration for the team’s seniors including posters made by teammates and videos sent in from parents and loved ones who were unable to attend because of COVID-19 protocols.

Senior port and team captain Shelby Meksto switched from the second varsity eight boat in the first meet versus Loyola Marymount to row for the varsity four in Saturday’s race. In this race, the Bruins finished with a time of 7:27.70, over four seconds faster than the Trojans.

“The post-meet feel was so unreal,” Meksto said. “As we came in, you could just hear all of our teammates on land cheering us on, and it was so cool. Me being a senior, that was just such an awesome feeling and such a great note to end on for our Senior Day. Coming off really, really hard, high-intensity training this week, it felt like the best note to end on.”

Joining senior starboard Leila Bernstein and senior port Juliette Frank as team captains, the trio serves as three of 13 of the team’s senior class.

Coach Amy Fuller Kearney – a three-time Olympian, world-record holder and 1993 U.S. Rowing Female Athlete of the Year – commended the group’s contributions to the team culture.

“(The seniors) have contributed to the culture big-time,” Fuller Kearney said. “They’ve just been positive. They bought in. All three of my captains are seniors this year, and it’s just been really about embracing our tenants of care, dare, decide and really putting that ‘care’ component first. It takes a little time, and you have to be patient, but all that hard work, all that effort put into culture, pays off.”

UCLA’s varsity eight crew earned a final time of 6:28.40, exactly 14 seconds faster than USC’s crew. The Bruins’ second varsity eight also crossed the finish line first with a time of 6:38.50, finishing faster than the Women of Troy’s main varsity eight by just under four seconds and 16.7 seconds faster than their second varsity eight. Racing a third varsity eight, UCLA’s final crew timed in at 6:59.30.

Sophomore port Olivia Caesar, hailing from England and a member of the varsity eight crew, said the race showcased the team’s hard work.

“It really was like a perfect storm of events. Everything really came together,” Caesar said. “The atmosphere was incredible. … To be able to have done that against ‘SC for the first time in program history and to have the margins what they were was incredible. It was a real display of our power, strength and speed that we’ve got over the last few months. And it’s always special to do it against ‘SC.”

With their home meets over, the Bruins will next compete in the Lake Las Vegas Invitational on April 10. Caesar said while the team is proud of its results, it’s excited to continue to improve.

“We’re going to celebrate this win, and we’re going to take a weekend to, you know, really let it set in,” Caesar said. “We’re elated and just overjoyed by the fact that we got this result. But we’re going to come back to it on Monday and look at the things that we were pleased with in the race and look at the things that we want to make better in the next race, and we’ll work on those for the next two weeks and make sure that we’re executing.”