March 15, 1999
SAN DIEGO -
The San Diego State University womens crew team put forth another strong performance against the University of Southern California Saturday, March 13 in San Pedro, Calif. in its second race of the season.
The Aztecs won all their events, except the varsity eight which lost by 11 seconds. In the novice events, SDSU crushed USC by six and eight boat lengths in the A and B races, respectively. The second varsity eight race was closer with the Aztecs taking the lead from the beginning and fighting off several surges by USC to win by three seconds.
"I think this was a good early season race for us," said head coach Scott Steckel. "We had a good performance by our crews and gained valuable experience to take with us into the Crew Classic on March 27."
The varsity squad for USC includes several foreign national team members including 6-4 sophomore Ivalena Boteva, the world record holder in the rowing ergo meters. Boteva was recruited from the Bulgarian National Team. The Aztecs look forward to improving their times against USC in one month at the California State Collegiate Rowing Championships in Sacramento, Calif. on April 17.
On Sunday, March 14 the womens rowing team debuted its lightweight eight team at the Davis Invitational Rowing Tournament in Davis, Calif. against UC Davis and St. Mary's College. The Aztecs finished the race in second place with a time of 7:58.0, UC Davis placed first with a time of 7:41.1, and St. Mary's finished third with a time of 7:58.5.
The inexperience of SDSU's mostly novice group showed, as they were taken by surprise in the first thirty strokes of the race. UC Davis lead from the start and finished with a two-boat length lead. The Aztec lightweights will face the best lightweight crews in the nation in two weeks at the San Diego Crew Classic, March 27 and 28.
SDSU travels to Newport Beach, Calif. Saturday, March 20 to compete for the Berg Cup against the University of San Diego, Long Beach State, Orange Coast College, and Chapman University.