Pac-10 Women's Challenge Information (PDF)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – After six months of training and preparation the Santa Clara University women's rowing team officially begins its 2011 competition schedule this weekend, facing West Coast Conference rival St. Mary's in a pair of races at the Pac-10 Women's Challenge at Redwood Shores.

Two Varsity 8 boats from both schools, consisting of eight rowers and a coxswain, will face off in two separate 2K races. It will be the first race of the 2011 season for Santa Clara and the debut race for the Broncos under first-year head coach John Wojtkiewicz, who took over the program in September.

"Having St. Mary's there next to us is going to be great in terms of intensity and adrenaline, which comes from lining up against another competitive collegiate crew," said Wojtkiewicz. "However, what we really want to do is set a goal for our time. Then, in the coming weekends try and shave seconds off that time."

"St. Mary's is very fast this year, maybe faster than they have ever been. In a sense we want to put the blinders on and row as fast as we can this weekend and see what improvements we can make to continuously get better over the next month."

The collegiate racing season is essentially just one month long. Santa Clara will race this weekend and again April 2-3 at the San Diego Crew Classic on Mission Bay. The upcoming slate of racing leads up to the WCC Championships and the WIRA Championships April 30 through May 2 at Lake Natoma in Northern Calif.

"It's super intensive and will go by very fast," said Wojtkiewicz about the upcoming month of April. "But that is how rowing seasons are meant to be. Rowing is a very unique sport. We do six or seven months of training and never see another crew and we take all that training and put it into a month of racing."