SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After a long, cold offseason of training, Santa Clara men's rowing finally got its season started on Mar. 3 at the UC Davis Invitational where its best finish was second place in the men's Varsity 8's. For complete results click here.

The Broncos were thrilled to finally get to race against other programs in a competitive environment after many early morning practices at the Lexington Reservoir.

"The excitement for our first race had been building throughout our team since the start of the season," said senior Daniel Calvillo. "To be able to race with this group of guys for the first time was amazing and we are looking forward to the rest of the season."

The long winter of training paid off for the team as they were able to come away from the first race of 2012 seeing improvements over last year.

"The major positive that we took away was an improvement to our speed," explained Calvillo. "Compared to this race last season we have improved our time by over 10 seconds and have narrowed the margin between us and a strong crew like
UC Davis."

Despite the increase in speed, there are always areas that the team is looking to work on and get better at.

"Even though there was much improvement, we still need to work on our starts and sprints," continued Calvillo. "This will allow us to not only be able to gain some ground in the beginning but also finish the race strong."

Now that the season has started, the rowers must adjust their training to accommodate weekend races. They are no longer looking to stay ready but instead are trying make the necessary adjustments to improve from race to race.

"The overall tempo of racing season is turned up compared to the offseason," added Calvillo. "Everyone focuses and puts in the effort necessary to win. The off season is used to stay in good shape and conditioning but the racing season is meant to improve on that."

Santa Clara returns to the water Sat., Mar. 10 for the Sacramento State Invitational.