SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara women's rowing will return to competition on Sat., March 28 and Sun., Marhc 29 at the San Diego Crew Classic. The Broncos are coming off a strong showing at the Davis Invitational at the beginning of the month where they won four of five races, and came in second in the other. Santa Clara Broncos (SCB) talked to head coach John Wojtkiewicz (JW) about the upcoming races.
SCB: How has the team been doing since the last race?
JW: The varsity eight continues to show promise as we develop speed and technical efficiencies. As a crew made up of four freshmen, three sophomores and two juniors it is a very young boat, but they have a lot of fight and the speed they have been showing is very encouraging. The second varsity eight has admittedly been struggling to find their groove but we feel it's just a matter of time. We put all of our seniors in the varsity four and we're excited to be a racing a senior four. They can have a very strong race as well.
SCB: The last time you raced, you won all but one event. How do you use that as motivation heading into these races?
JW: Our race against Davis was very encouraging and a great warm-up, but the San Diego Crew Classic is a completely different regatta. I would argue it is one of the top four most competitive regattas in the country for spring racing. We're taking the speed we showed at Davis and using that as a jumping off point to improve. Our athletes are approaching it as an opportunity to improve, race some of the best, but no more than that. If we can go fast at this regatta then that will give us the momentum we need to push forward and pick up more speed going into WCCs.
SCB: Talk about the San Diego Crew Classic and the teams that are going to be there. Why is this such a good event?
JW: The San Diego Crew Classic has a great tradition of serving up an early taste of NCAA competition. At least five or six crews there will be racing at the NCAA National Championships, and invariably it allows those crews to throw down that gauntlet of speed. For us being such a young and inexperienced team it's good to line up against some of those crews and learn from it. You only get faster by racing faster crews.
SCB: What are you looking for from the team? What will be a successful weekend?
JW: If all three crews can fulfill their potential at this point in the season, then I will be happy and we will know we're continuing to move forward.
