Rowing Teams See Mixed Results

By Chris Glennon

Both teams were in action at Redwood Shores in final preparation for the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships, which will take place next weekend at Lake Natoma in Sacramento, Calif.

A less than stellar race at the Stanford Invitational for the top varsity boat caused Head Coach Jay Farwell to troubleshoot issues with the lineup, according to Santa Clara Broncos Athletics online.

"The Varsity Eight struggled a bit this weekend," he said. "We know we have a fast boat, but we are running out of time. We will be working hard this week to establish more boat speed."

 The speed will be much needed as the team looks ahead to the WIRAs, the culmination of a year's worth of work. There they will be competing against Gonzaga University, the University of San Diego and the University of California, San Diego. The winner of the race will head to the championship regatta for the Intercollegiate Rowing Association.

Despite the Varsity Eight's struggles, Farwell was pleased with his second varsity boat's performance. 

"The boat performed really well and made some progress over the weekend," he said.

Conor Moakley, 4 Seat on the Second Varsity Eight, also seemed pleased with his boat's performance.

"This past weekend gave (us) a lot of momentum," said Moakley, a junior. "We switched a true walk-on freshman, Tyler Sellers, into the (boat), which has given us a lot of power."

Moakley pointed to the beginning of races as something both boats need to work on.

"The first five strokes of the race need to be a bit more connected," he said. "Our power is there, it's just applying it in the most efficient way ... Fitness-wise we are up there with the best."

The women's Varsity Eight competed in round-robin racing because the course only had room for two teams to race at a time. On Saturday, they dropped two races to Saint Mary's College and San Diego State University.

"The margin was as expected, but the crew felt like they could have had a better start and held with Saint Mary's for longer," Head Coach John Wojtkiewicz told Santa Clara Broncos Athletics online.

On Sunday, both the Varsity Eight and Junior Varsity topped Mills College.

Although the women's team will also be rowing this upcoming weekend at the WIRAs, the team is looking ahead to the West Coast Conference Championships in mid-May.

Senior captain Adrienne Lohe said that as the team reaches the end of the season, most of the actual training is done.

"Now we are picking up speed by improving our technique and maintaining our fitness," she said. "We will have a three-week break with no racing (before) our championships, and we're going to do a lot of hard work to get that extra speed that we need."

Lohe added that right before race weekend in May they will taper so they have extra energy to use during the race.

"Our goal for the WCC Championships is time-based, not placement-based," she said. "At the beginning of the season we set a 2K race time for each boat to achieve by the end of the season, so we will be working towards that rather than a specific placement."

Lohe said that for the past four years she has been influenced by her team captains and that it was their dedication and commitment that she's always tried to live up to. 

"I hope that I am doing the same for the girls on the team now," she said.

WIRA racing for both the men and the women will begin on Saturday.

Contact Chris Glennon at cglennon@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.