WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Men's rowing got its season off to a strong start Sunday, winning four of its five races in the Davis Invitational at the Port of Sacramento. Santa Clara's Varsity 8, JV 8, Novice 8 and Novice 4 boats prevailed against UC Davis and Sonoma State, while the Varsity 4 boat took second in its race.
"Overall, we are pleased with the performance of the crew in their first race of the season. This is always a great test for us," head coach Jay Farwell said. "We leave campus around 4:30 in the morning and travel to the Port of Sacramento which is not ideal but the guys realize this is a part of what we do. The conditions for the early morning races were a bit challenging with a solid crosswind and I thought our coxswains did a good job handling the course."
Varsity 8 - 1st Place - 6:17.0
Coach Farwell: "The varsity 8 was the first race of the day and we thought that they had a pretty good race. We have a number of issues to keep working and there is a lot of room for improvement but the guys felt like the race was a good first race to establish a baseline for future performance."
Varsity 4 - 2nd Place - 7:07.6
Coach Farwell: "Varsity 4 had a good battle and fell a bit short. UC Davis has a very good varsity 4 and my hat goes off to those guys. They had a heck of a sprint and really distanced themselves from our group over the last several hundred meters."
JV 8 - 1st Place - 6:32.1
Coach Farwell: "The JV 8 also had a good race and it is nice to see that we are getting a bit more depth in the program. For the most part, the guys in this boat thought they put out a solid effort; we agree."
Novice 8 - 1st Place - 6:10.5
Coach Farwell: "The novice 8 had a solid race with a relatively new lineup and some personnel that had never raced before. We have really stressed execution of the race plan and consistency to this group. From our perspective, they did a really good job of working the entire race."
Novice 4 - 1st Place - 7:36.6
Coach Farwell: The novice 4 also had a good race. This was the first race for these guys as none of them had prior rowing experience. I thought they did a great job."
Up Next
The Broncos race for the second time in as many weekends when they head to Lake Natoma in Folsom, Calif. to take on Sacramento State.