April 24, 2001
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University rowing teams will compete in the 24-school Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships Saturday, April 28, on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif.
Saturday's regatta will consist of 45 races (23 on the women's side, 22 on the men's side), beginning at 8 a.m. and continuing to approximately 6:15 p.m. Admission to the regatta is free.
The women's varsity eight competition will begin with three heats from noon until 12:20 p.m. with the grand final beginning at 6 p.m. A total of 17 schools will compete for the varsity eight championship including No. 1 seed San Diego State, No. 2 Western Washington, No. 3 Gonzaga, No. 4 University of San Diego, No. 5 Sacramento State, No. 6 UC Davis, No. 7 Loyola Marymount, No. 8 UC Irvine, No. 9 UC Santa Barbara, No. 10 Pacific Lutheran, No. 11 Humboldt State, No. 12 Willamette, No. 13 Santa Clara, No. 14 Long Beach State, No. 15 UC San Diego, No. 16 Chapman and No. 17 Lewis and Clark.
Sacramento State, which won last year's varsity eight championship by more than five seconds, will look to defend its title. UC Davis finished second in last year's grand final followed by San Diego State, Colorado, Western Washington and UC Santa Barbara, respectively.
