The Bruins’ regular season is nearing its culmination.

UCLA rowing (1-1) will take its boats to the Dexter Lake Invitational, competing in its final regatta of the 2023 regular-season campaign Saturday morning. Competing in Lowell, Oregon, the Bruins will have the opportunity to survey the location of the Pac-12 championships that kick off just two weeks later.

In addition to an early look at the site of the conference championships, UCLA will also get a scouting report on its tournament competitors.

“It’s one of those things where the more you race somewhere the better you know it,” said senior port Olivia Caesar. “It’d be really nice to have a rehearsal regatta. … There’s always things to look at that are changing and always different, so it’s nice to get all of that out of our system, so when it comes to Pac-12, we’re just really focused on the job at hand.”

Making its debut at the Dexter Lake Invitational, UCLA will encounter familiar foes in the likes of Central Florida, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The Bruins battled against those three squads in the Big Ten Invitational earlier this month, when all four UCLA boats cruised past all but one team. On day one of the event, a triumphant morning session saw first-place finishes across the board, as the Bruins coasted past the Knights and Gophers by at least two-second margins.

Braving Wisconsin on day two of the event, it was UCLA’s varsity four crews that ensured top-two finishes, prevailing over Wisconsin by four- and 17-second margins. The varsity eight crews were both surpassed by Wisconsin by three- and seven-second differences.

“It’ll be nice to go up there and see some teams that we saw in Florida,” Caesar said. “See if we can change some results from that race.”

The Bruins will have the chance to avenge their Big Ten contenders on the heels of a full sweep of Loyola Marymount at home last weekend, during which each boat defeated its opponents by a margin of at least 15 seconds. The varsity four headlined that regatta, besting the Lions by nearly a minute.

According to Caesar, the squad has seen improvements in its execution in the water.

“We’ve really established a great rhythm,” Caesar said. “The finish sequence, the start sequence, the little pushes through the middle. … We were executing them much better … and taking that through into the next races, but it was nice to see that we made a step on from our previous races.”

With a chance to rematch familiar rivals and simultaneously set sights on future adversaries, senior port Jane DiLauro said the tournament will be an opportunity for the Bruins to prove themselves.

“We just want to win and make sure everyone knows what we want and how hard we’re working,” DiLauro said.