REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. — Santa Clara men's rowing won four of its seven dual races between Saturday and Sunday at the Stanford Invitational. The Broncos matched up with four different crews: UC Santa Barbara, Stanford, UC Irvine and Washington State.
The Bronco Varsity 8 boat raced three times on the weekend, and began its stretch with a 5:52.9 effort to edge UCSB (5:56.6). Ideal weather conditions to begin the event led to fast times for both sides.
"UCSB is a great program with a lot of depth," Bronco head coach Jay Farwell said. "Their coach, Desmond Stahl (SCU '90), is a great coach and always has very fast crews. We were fortunate to come out on top on our dual race with them Saturday morning. We will see UCSB at the WIRA Championships in two weeks and we expect a very tight race."
After the win over UCSB, the Broncos doubled back for an afternoon competition against Stanford, and came within seven seconds of the Cardinal. On Sunday, Santa defeated 2015 WIRA Champion UC Irvine by nine seconds.
"Although we came up short against the Cardinal, I cannot remember a time when we were this close to a very fast and competitive Stanford Varsity 8. I think this demonstrates how far our program has come over the last couple of years."
The Freshman 8 boat won each of its two races. Santa Clara beat Stanford on Saturday and Washington State on Sunday.
"The freshmen were spread out in our Varsity 8 and JV 8 boats so we asked a lot of these guys to perform well in the Freshman 8 race," Farwell said. "Stanford was a big win for our team. I can't remember the last time a Santa Clara 8 beat a Stanford 8 — let's just say it has been a very long time."
Santa Clara's Junior Varsity 8 fell in tilts against UCSB and Stanford.
"We came up quite a bit short in both of these races and I know the guys feel like they can perform at a higher level," Farwell said. "We will be working over the next week or so to adjust the lineup and find additional speed to be more competitive at WIRAs in two weeks."
Next Event
The Broncos head to Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif. for the WIRA Championships April 30 - May 1.
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