San Diego Crew Classic

This year, the men's and women's varsity eights made what it becoming an annual trip out to the San Diego Crew Classic to test themselves against some high-caliber west coast crews. Once again, this trip was made possible thanks to our generous hosts with the San Diego chapter University's Alumni Association.The athletes arrived on various flights on Thursday evening or Friday morning and then traveled to the course on Mission Bay to rig up the boats and practice on the notoriously unfair course. For those who are unfamiliar with Mission Bay, the changing tides, currents, and winds can put crews in the outside lanes at a significant disadvantage. This also marked the first year where we were able to transport our own shells and oars across the country to race.Both crews raced in their heats on Saturday morning, with the men taking 6th, just behind UCLA and ahead of USC, which placed them in the Saturday afternoon 3rd-level final for the American Specialty Health Cup.The women also raced well, placing 4th in their heat of the DII/DIII/Club division ahead of the Cal Berkeley lightweights. This strong race was enough to qualify them for Sunday's grand final for the first time in team history!In the men's 3rd-level final the guys started out with a clear disadvantage out in lane 6, while the crews in the more favorable lanes 1-3 jumped out ahead. In a valiant effort, the guys were able to distance themselves from Sacramento State and Long Beach State in lanes 4 and 5, but the conditions were too much to overcome to get into the top three positions.On Sunday morning, the women lined up for the final for the DII/DIII/Club 8 after a long fog delay. Unfortunately, the conditions and level of competition proved to just be too much, and they placed 8th.Saturday ResultsSunday Results