SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara University women's rowing program is picking up boat speed in preparation for its 2011 spring season. Head coach John Wojtkiewicz and the Broncos will soon announce the addition of three more student-athletes, which will bring their roster up to 23. 

"We just completed another month-long training cycle," said Wojtkiewicz, who is getting his team ready for its 2011 debut event, the Pac-10 Challenge at Redwood Shores. "This month things have been a bit off as the team has had to deal with some sickness (which is normal this time of year), a bout of cold weather mornings, and a few scheduling disruptions.  Despite these challenges, we continue to show some promise for the coming racing season."

The week of Feb. 14 through 18, the team will begin its penultimate testing. Wojtkiewicz hopes for improvement on all protocols. With the roster at 23, the Broncos can plan to have a complete racing team when the season starts March 26.

"We lost a lot of seniors last year, so our (varsity 8) boat is still working on gelling together," sophomore Berkeley Fial recently told SantaClaraBroncos.com. "We really want to have a strong start to the season, and we want to set a time that is equal to or less than our fastest racing time last year. We have a new coach this year, and he's been making awesome changes to the routine and training. We're definitely looking forward to a good start to the season."