SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Much like weightlifting, where athletes work up to a 'max' weight or certain amount of repetitions, in the sport of rowing, each team and each boat aims to build up speed in preparation for the season's competition window (which comes in April and May at the NCAA level).

The student-athletes on Santa Clara University's women's rowing team have reported back to practice and have initialized the first phase of that preseason training.

"Now that we are together again and back on the water we are starting to build on our aerobic base, work with greater volume and do more intensive interval work," explains third-year SCU women's rowing head coach John Wojtkiewicz. "At the end of January we will shift completely into our pre-competitive phase which means we're getting ready to race. That will include more intervals, max lifting three times a week and continuing to maintain the aerobic base we've already established. In short we will be relentlessly piling more and more work on."

Santa Clara has 27 student-athletes on its 2013 roster and the season's racing schedule officially begins April 13 at the Covered Bridge Regatta in Eugene, Ore. The Broncos should benifit from the return of three rowers from last year's Varsity Eight and a returning coxswain, who were studying abroad during the 2012 fall quarter. 

"Getting them back in the fold finally brings our whole team together and I am thrilled with the dynamic and cohesiveness of our group right now," said Wojtkiewicz. "Despite our youth, there is a tangible sense of mission across the whole team that is new and refreshing."

The Broncos are also looking forward to their 'spring training week' on Lake Natoma (near Sacramento) in late March. That week marks the last phase of intense physical preparation and training prior to the start of official competition. Wojtkiewicz and second-year SCU assistant coach Elisabeth Johnson plan to come out of 'spring training week' with established lineups for the program's three priority crews (I Eight, II Eight and Four).