RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. — Santa Clara men's rowing captured three medals, including one gold medal, at the WIRA championships in Lake Natoma last weekend. The crew's performance marked the second straight year of bringing home multiple medals from the event.
The team's all-freshman Novice 8 boat won a gold medal, the Novice 4 boat won a silver medal and the Varsity 8 boat won a bronze medal. Each of the three medal-winning boats competed in a field of 13 or more crews.
"All five of our entries performed well enough to qualify for the grand final in their respective event," head coach Jay Farwell said. "All of the guys put out a tremendous effort this weekend and both [assistant coach Evan Bainbridge] and I are really pleased with the team's performance."
Novice 8 — 1st Place (Gold Medal) — 6:17.2
"The highlight of the weekend was our Novice 8 boat, who won their event by besting 13 other crews," Farwell said. "I can't say enough about this group and they way they handle themselves at practice and on race day. They continue to work hard, remain focused, and do a great job of maintaining their composure on race day."
Novice 4 — 2nd Place (Silver Medal) — 7:01.6
"This group did a great job on Saturday in the heat setting themselves up with a good lane for the final," Farwell said. "They put together a very good race in the final on Sunday, putting themselves in a position to win but coming up a bit short."
Varsity 8 — 3rd Place (Bronze Medal) — 6:17.8
"Although there was some disappointment that we did not win the event, the third place finish was solid result," Farwell said.
Junior Varsity 8 — 5th Place — 6:37.4
"The Junior Varsity 8 performed well on Saturday to get into the grand final event. The boat did not perform as well as we would have liked in the grand final but there is still a lot of room for improvement and this is a very young crew," Farwell said. "The 5th place finish was not what we were looking for but this boat continues to improve and we will be pushing very hard over the next few weeks."
Pair — 6th Place — 8:16.0
"Our pair did a great job to get into the grand final," Farwell said. "We happened to draw a rather slow heat which helped us out quite a bit but nonetheless the guys raced themselves into the grand final were they placed 6th out of 18 crews."
NEXT RACE
The crew heads back to Lake Natoma for the Western Sprints Regatta May 16, which serves as an IRA qualifier.
"This is the focal point of all the work we have put into this season," Farwell said. "The top two finishers in the Varsity 8 receive an automatic bid to the IRA regatta for the national championship."
