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SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's rowing opens the 2020 season at the California Challenge Cup Saturday and has a dual with Orange Coast College Sunday.

"Winter training has been very competitive and there is no question that from top to bottom this is the deepest team we have had in a long time," Santa Clara head coach Jay Farwell said. "This depth is a tribute to the returners who had a great finish to the 2019 season with a 22nd national ranking for the Varsity 8 and a 23rd national ranking for the 2nd Varsity 8. We were fortunate to have an influx of talent with our incoming freshman class this year and they have integrated well into our system. All in all, we are in a good place and ready for the challenging schedule with the hope of making another trip to the IRA National Championship Regatta at the end of May."

The Broncos are getting an early start to the season, not usually opening things up until the first week of March. The California Challenge Cup is also a nontraditional racing format with 1,250-meter races as opposed to the normal 2,000 meters.

"The team is looking forward to the upcoming California Challenge Cup this weekend as well as getting the 2020 racing season underway," Farwell said. "This weekend will provide us with an early opportunity to see how we handle race-day conditions as well as get some feedback on our training to date. We have a number of freshmen who will get their first opportunity to race as a Bronco and we are eager to see how this class is going to impact our team this year."

The Sunday races against OCC will be back to the regular 2,000-meter format.

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