SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Santa Clara men's rowing took home titles in the V8 and V4 races at WIRAs over the weekend while also competing with the JV8, N8, and N4 boats.
"Our team had a very good weekend and our coaching staff is really proud of the team effort over the weekend," Santa Clara head coach Jay Farwell said. "We have had a very demanding schedule this spring season and it is starting pay dividends when it counts."
The Broncos V8 finished two seconds ahead of UC Santa Barbara with a time of 5:59.633 for the title. They had a clear lead by the halfway mark.
"Our Varsity 8 have a very solid performance in the preliminary heat on Saturday taking first in the heat and qualifying for the grand final," Farwell said. "On Sunday for the final, we got off the line really well and established ourselves early in the race."
"We came off the line really hot and took an early lead. After that, we settled into a hard rhythm and hung on like our lives depended on it," junior Grant Steffen said.
The V4 boat finished with a time of 6:47.797, 10 and a half seconds ahead of second place UC Irvine.
"Our Varsity 4 was made up of 4 of the guys in the Varsity 8 and coxswain Sam Assomull," Farwell said. "These guys were doubling up for the weekend and it was a tremendous effort by this group to win in both the Varsity 8 and the Varsity 4."
"Just like in the V8 race, we came off the line really fast and established an open water relatively early in the race," senior Chris Szigeti said. "From there we knew it was our race to lose so we just kept pushing until the sprint portion of the race when we knew we had the race won."
The 2V8 boat finished second at 6:16.281, three second behind UC San Diego.
"Our second Varsity 8 also had an impressive showing finishing with the silver," Farwell said. "I thought this group did a really good job of staying close to UC San Diego. We have two weeks before we see them again for Western Sprints so we need to find some more speed to catch them."
The Tritons also took the N4 race with the Broncos finishing second at 7:03.083.
"Our Novice 4 had a really good weekend with three walk-ons that showed up in the fall without any rowing experience," Farwell said. "This group has come a long way over the last several months and put together a terrific finish to capture the silver medal."
The N8 race saw Santa Clara finish fourth with a time of 6:32.309 with Orange Coast taking the title.
Next up is Western Sprints where Santa Clara will try to qualify for IRA National Championships.
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