SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara men's rowing squad finished its 2013 campaign with a nice showing at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships (PCRC) on May 18. Facing some formidable competition, the Broncos' weekend was highlighted by Santa Clara's victory in the Pair without Coxswain race.
Going into the weekend, Bronco head coach Jay Farwell indicated that the PCRC would give plenty of young members of the crew opportunities on the varsity boats due to injury. After the competition, Farwell thought the young rowers did a good job assimilating into some of the Broncos' top boats.
"PCRCs was a great opportunity to try some new line-ups and give the first year rowers a taste of varsity level competition," said Farwell. "We got a lot of our first-year guys into the mix and I thought they performed well. For the varsity guys, they have been very patient over the last several weeks in the process of getting the first year oars involved in the varsity boats. I thought the varsity guys did a really good job of mentoring the younger guys and giving them constructive feedback on and off the water. This really has a positive impact in preparation for summer training and everyone's return in the fall."
The highlight of the weekend was Santa Clara's victory in the Open Pair race, in which Santa Clara raced two boats. The winning pair was Santa Clara senior Toban Platt and junior Russell Wetherly. The tandem beat a pair from UC Davis, another Santa Clara duo and Sacramento State.
"Toban is a senior and the captain of the team so the race was bittersweet in the sense that it was his last collegiate race but he won the event," said Farwell. "Russell Wetherly is a junior and is going to be a real leader for the team next year. They both worked incredibly hard this season and it was a great way for them to end their season."
In the Open Eight race, Washington and Cal, two of the nation's top crews, finished first and second, respectively. Santa Clara finished with a respectable time of 6:31.6.
In the Novice Four race, Washington and Cal again finished atop the rest. Santa Clara finished with a time of 7:28.3
Finally, in the Collegiate 4, Cal picked up the victory, with Santa Clara finishing with a time of 7:17.8.
Looking back at the season, Farwell, the Broncos' first-year head coach, thought his did a nice job of responding to Farwell as the new head coach. He has high hopes for the Broncos in the years to come.
"This was a year full of mixed results and in my opinion a lot of this has to do with the coaching change that occurred," said Farwell. "I think the guys did a really good job with the change but I have no doubt that the change was not easy for the guys. The good news is that we have a rowing season under our belts and the guys now have an idea of the level of expectation and commitment that is needed to participate in the program. We have some really solid recruits coming to Santa Clara for the 2013-14 year and we have a tremendous senior class lining up for next season. We are committed to improving each year - it is going to take some time but I know these guys are committed to the objective of becoming more and more competitive each year."
M Open 8 WASH 5:55.0 CALa 5:59.4 CALb 6:12.6 COLOa 6:19.6 SCU 6:31.6 COLOb 6:43.9 SAC 7:04.8
M Collegiate Novice 4 WASH 6:34.2 CAL 6:39.6 SAC 7:17.5 SCU 7:28.3
M Collegiate 4 CALa 6:33.8 WASH 6:37.2 CALb 6:53.3 SAC. St. 6:59.1 WSU 7:12.3 SCU 7:17.8
M Open Pair without Coxswain SCUa 7:39.3 UCDavis 7:44.0 SCUb 8:33.1 SAC St. 8:59.4
