SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Coming off a close race against UC Davis on March 5, Santa Clara University men's crew battled boats from California, Sonoma State, Sacramento State, Humboldt State and the University of the Pacific last weekend on Lake Natoma.

"We looked to come in and take an early lead against some pretty good teams that we will face again at WIRA's," said SCU captain Wills Fallon. "Historically, we have won this early-season invitational and it always serves as a good early test for us."

After a restart in the Varsity 8 event, Santa Clara was in third place through the first 1000 meters, only a few seats down to Sonoma State. Through choppy conditions in the final 1000 meters, the Broncos' top boat attempted to regain control of the race. Unfortunately, the sprint of the Cal Lightweights proved too much.

"We ended up coming in fourth, a bitter defeat that will surely provide motivation heading into Spring Break," said Fallon.

The bright spot for SCU occurred in one of the day's final races. Santa Clara's Lightweight 4+, a unit that has been working hard all season, was able to showcase some early-season speed. Leading from the start over boats from Sacramento State, Humboldt State and the University of the Pacific, the Lightweights continued to push away from the rest of the field en route to their first victory of the spring season.

"During finals, school must come first," said Fallon about the team's busy schedule this week. "While (Coach Wieslaw Kujda) gives us suggested workouts for the week, it is really up to everyone to do the workouts. Because, the workouts have been pretty hard, we've all tried to coordinate our schedules to take a study break and spend it on the ergs, out for a run, or in the weight room. But the start of the season has given us tons of motivation to make changes and work harder than we have before in order to do well at the end of the season."

The Bronco crew is back in action the weekend of April 2-3 at San Diego's Crew Classic on Mission Bay.