March 20, 2006
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University men's crew has gotten off to a promising start in the 2006 season, making respectable showings in a dual meet against Sacramento State and on the mens' side of the WCC Challenge this past weekend at Lake Natoma in Sacramento. The varsity four has rowed to a pair of victories already while the varsity eight continues to make strides.
The Bronco men will return to action Friday and Saturday, March 24-25 at the Windermere Collegiate Crew Classic in Redwood City which will feature such competition as Northeastern, the United States Naval Academy and Trinity.
Against Sacramento State, the varsity eight got off to a great start and actually led the Hornets for most of the way, but a Sacramento State surge at the end overcame the Broncos for a three-second victory. SCU put up a time of 6:21 while Sacramento State turned in a winning time of 6:18.
The varsity four, meanwhile, claimed a three-second victory over the Hornets, turning in a winning time of 7:09.
At the WCC Challenge this past weekend, the men's boats went head-to-head with a pair of strong crews in San Diego and Loyola Marymount. Things got started with a morning race featuring the Broncos and Toreros, with USD coming out on top with a time of 6:20 to SCU's 6:29.
But the SCU varsity four rowed to victory for the second-straight time, posting a winning time of 7:20, two seconds faster than the Toreros' 7:22.
Opposite a strong crew from Loyola Marymount in the afternoon, the Santa Clara varsity eight suffered another setback as they dropped a 15-second decision to the Lions. The Broncos came in at 6:45 while the Lions turned in a winning time of 6:30.
"Considering the fact that [the SCU boats] made some mistakes this weekend, it does give us time to develop," head coach Weislaw Kujda commented about SCU's performance. "I'm not saying that I am happy with the performance but it does show potential and it will be interesting to see how the underclassmen respond and approach each race separately. The biggest part is just getting experience racing."
