Feb. 19, 2002

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Santa Clara University's men's crew began its season February 9th at the annual ERG Testing in Sacramento, Calif. The Broncos competed against the teams from UC Davis and Sacramento State in the indoor event.

For months now Santa Clara has been hard at work getting ready for this event and for the rest of the season, and the hard work appears to have paid off. The Broncos set 26 personal records on the day, including Sean Eirich who set a school record while winning the event.

Eirich finished the ERG Testing in 6:00.4, 12 seconds ahead of his closest competitor, breaking the school record previously held by Matt Madigan by two seconds. The time allows Eirich to submit times for National Team Qualifying, a team that Madigan himself was on.

"The testing was very big for us," said Eirich. "I don't ever remember a time in which so many guys set personal records on one day."

The testing was all done on Concept 2 rowing machines, which ranked every competitor by score. The testing was done over a 2,000 meter span with the machines linked together.

"What this tells us is that we are physically ready for the year," said Eirich. "What this doesn't tell us is how efficient we all are in the boat, which we will find out once the season starts."

Eirich, who has been the team captain since last season, will lead the Broncos into their first outdoor competition of the 2002 season on March 9 when they will race at Sacramento State.