Hard work, solid second-year rowers paying off for crew
By Ryan Donough
The Santa Clara men's crew team is having one of its strongest seasons in Santa Clara history.
The men's varsity eight boat defeated UC Davis, a perennial powerhouse that routinely defeats some of the best teams in the state, at their home invitational. The same boat also finished in first place at the Sacramento State Invitational last month.
The win over the Aggies marked the first time Santa Clara defeated a UC Davis varsity eight boat in an estimated 10 years, according to men's crew captain Jimmy Shoven.
Santa Clara continued their success into last week's San Diego Crew Classic with a sixth-place finish in the grand finals out of 17 teams, including UCLA, UC Davis and Orange Coast College, all great teams, according to Shoven.
Shoven attributes the Broncos' recent outburst of success this season to a strong graduating novice class, who made a smooth transition into the varsity boat, as well as strong leadership from upperclassmen Stephen Shanley and Brendon Bula.
"We are riding a high from last year's successful novice class," Shoven said. "We currently have three rowers from our novice team last year on the varsity squad, and they have made a huge impact."
Not only have the Broncos benefitted from an excellent graduating novice class, but the hard work they have put in during the course of the season is paying dividends, according to Shoven.
"We have had great dedication from our rowers and worked harder than we ever have before," Shoven said. "Over spring break, we practiced two times a day, every day, and it is paying off."
The men's novice team has also been enjoying a successful season and has been steadily improving their own performances with faster times in each of the last two invitational regattas.
The novice four boat started off with a third-place showing at the Sacramento State Invitational, while the novice eight came in second in the event. The novice teams followed these finishes up with other solid races, including a third-place finish in the petite final in the San Diego Crew Classic.
"The novice teams have been getting progressively better, and this should be some good racing experience for them," Shoven said.
Shoven believes the varsity men's eight boat is capable of winning the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship in May.
"Based on their performances this year, I would say that they have a pretty legitimate shot at winning WIRA's," said women's Head Coach Carlo Facchino.
Santa Clara hopes that their win over UC Davis earlier this season is a sign of things to come, as the Aggies were last season's overall champion. However, Shoven is also worried about OCC, who is consistently a contender for the title.
Santa Clara's varsity eight boat finished 15 seconds behind OCC and just two seconds behind Davis at the San Diego Crew Classic.
"I think we have a good shot at winning the whole thing," Shoven said. "We've already beaten Davis, and OCC is another team to look out for, but we want another shot at them."
The women's crew team got off to a slow start this season, but has finally began picking up steam after their last showing this past week at the Crew Classic in San Diego.
The women's varsity eight placed third in the petite finals, and Santa Clara's first-ever lightweight eight team is ranked No. 15 in the nation after a strong showing at the Pac-10 Rowing Challenge.
Facchino is pleased with how the team has been progressing this season.
"We've been steadily improving in each practice with a lot of true novices in our varsity boat this season," Facchino said.
Contact Ryan Donough at (408) 551-1918 or rdonough@scu.edu.