May 4, 2002
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University men's crew placed six boats into competition on day one of the WIRA Championships with three of them reaching the grand finals and the other three reaching the petite finals.
The men's novice lightweight four finished second in its heat, crossing the line in a time of 7:15.5, just three seconds behind the University of Portland. The Broncos will race in the grand finals at 8:10 a.m. Sunday morning out of lane six.
The men's novice four won its heat in a time of 6:51.5, crossing the line nearly 10 seconds ahead of the next closest competitor. They will compete in the grand finals from lane two at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday.
The lightweight varsity four finished second in heat one of their class, crossing the line in a time of7:01.5, just eight seconds behind Pacific Lutheran who won the heat. They will race in the grand finals out of lane three at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.
The men's varsity four placed third in its heat, 6.2 seconds behind heat winner and host, Sacramento State. The Broncos qualified for the petite final that was also run on Saturday, with the Bronco varsity four winning the petite final in a time of 7:09.6.
The novice eight finished third in heat two of their class, crossing the line in a time of 6:39.8. They competed in the petite final later in the day on Saturday, finished second in a time of 6:38.1, just three seconds behind Willamette for the title.
The second varsity eight did not have any preliminary heats for their class, but will run in the grand finals out of lane six at 10:50 a.m. Sunday morning.
The men's varsity eight finished fifth in its heat, crossing the line in a time of 6:22.8. They will race in the petite final Sunday mid-morning at 11:30 a.m. out of lane six.
Following the WIRA Championships, the Broncos will travel to Philadelphia, Pa., to participate in the Dad Vail Regatta. In last year's regatta, the Broncos took home the championship in the varsity eights.
