SANTA CLARA, Calif. – At the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships, the Santa Clara women's rowing team had a solid showing and now preps for the West Coast Conference Championships May 18 in Sacramento, Calif.

WIRA Championships

The Broncos planned to race all the NCAA events with the first eight, second and varsity four. However, the Broncos were unable to compete in the varsity four due to a lingering injury of one of the crew members.

The varsity raced in the first heat of two against Gonzaga, LMU and Sac State, finishing fourth with a time of 7:31.6 The teams racing in the second heat were Stanford LW, Saint Mary's, Seattle University and San Diego State.  The top three crews from each heat advanced to the grand final and the remaining two crews raced in the petite final.

Heat #1

Gonzaga (6:43.6)
LMU (6:52.6)
SacState (7:00.5)
SCU (7:31.6)

Heat #2

Stanford LW (6:51.5)
St. Mary's (6:59.8)
Seattle U (7:06.3)
SDSU (7:13.3)

"The heat was a solid piece for the varsity, although we were looking to get under 7:30.  We had a new seven-seat in the lineup and the hope was that would give us a few extra seconds, but we were essentially static," said Santa Clara head coach John Wojtkiewicz. "The upside was the pacing was more even; our athletes are very strong, and typically we go out hard but cannot sustain it. In this piece our pacing was a little more evenly spread across the whole piece but the net result was the same."

In the final on Sunday, the crew tried to take advantage of the pacing and focus on racing at a slightly higher rate with a lighter load.

"The net result (accounting for the slight headwind that picked up right around our race) was again static," said Wojtkiewicz. "Looking at other crews everyone was about 10 seconds slower because of the wind."  

Petite Final:
SDSU (7:19.5)
SCU (7:42.9)

"It was pretty frustrating for the varsity as the whole crew is desperate to get under 7:30, but we just can't seem to find that extra gear," said Wojtkiewicz.  "We aren't slowing down but we aren't getting any faster either."

The second eight raced on Sunday morning and finished with a time of 7:57.5.

2V Eight Grand Final:
Gonzaga (6:51.2)
SacState (7:06.2)
SDSU (7:10.5)
LMU (7:12.1)
St. Marys (7:19.4)
SCU (7:57.5)