WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Santa Clara rowing began its 2016 spring season with four victories and added three second-place finishes at the Davis Invitational on Sunday. The Varsity 8, JV 8, Novice 8 and Varsity 4 boats won the first four events of the day, while the JV 8 B, Novice 4 A and Novice 4 B boats each took second place at the Port of Sacramento. 

"We had a solid start to the spring racing season," head coach Jay Farwell said. "I was pleased with the overall performance of our team. We had a number of guys get two and three races in and this racing experience, especially for our freshmen, is invaluable at this early stage of the season."

The Varsity 8, JV 8 and Novice 8 boats faced a quartering head wind in the day's early races, which changed to a quartering tail wind for the last three events. Each of the three winning boats distanced itself by at least 11 seconds from the second-place team.

"Despite the less than optimal conditions, our crews handled the course pretty well," Farwell said. "We still have a number of things to work on and a lot of work ahead of us, but we have established a solid foundation to move forward on."

UP NEXT 

The Broncos return to the Port of Sacramento to face Gonzaga and UC San Diego this weekend. Friday's schedule is as follows: 

8:30 a.m. - Varsity 8

8:45 a.m. - 2nd Varsity 8

9:00 a.m. - 3rd Varsity 8

9:45 a.m. - Novice 8

"This will be an early matchup to see how we do against crews we will face in the middle of May to determine who gets a bid to the IRA Regatta," Farwell said. "Both UCSD and Gonzaga have a great tradition of producing fast crews and we look forward to seeing how we fare against them."

GO BRONCOS!