April 26, 2005
SAN DIEGO -
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SDSU Crew To Compete In WIRA Championships This Weekend
• The San Diego State women's crew team competes at the WIRA (Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association) Championships on Saturday and Sunday at Lake Natoma in Sacramento, Calif.
• The WIRA consists of 28 rowing programs, including 17 teams from the state of California. Some of the programs competing in addition to San Diego State are Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara, California, UC Santa Barbara, Colorado, Oregon, Portland, and city-rivals UC San Diego and University of San Diego.
• SDSU will send six boats: varsity eight, junior varsity eight, lightweight eight, novice eight, varsity four and novice four. The top two boats in each heat advance to the grand final, the next two boats to the petite final and the following two (or fewer if applicable) to the third final.
• "We've been gearing up for this (WIRA Championships) all year," said head coach Jennifer Zebroski. "Our confidence is at an all-time high, after winning the Cal Cup, and our goal is to finish in the top-three in each event. We are learning from our past mistakes and we hope to put it all together this weekend."
Rewind: Miller Cup Regatta
• The novice eight boat took second in the grand final to lead the San Diego State crew team at the 30th annual Miller Cup Regatta in Marina Del Rey, Calif., on April 16.
The boat, consisting of Raelyn Drury (cox), Jessica Hays (stroke), Tashina Vavuris (seven), Jen Duche (six), Kelly Olsen (five), Kelly Rutherford (four), Rachael Brockett (three), Katie Murray (two) and Christine Dickson (bow), finished the 1,500-meter race in 5 minutes, 27.5 seconds, under two seconds back of UCLA (5:25.7).
"We had a good overall day of racing," said SDSU second-year head coach Jennifer Zebroski. "The novice boat put two great races together (including the preliminary heat) and we are excited about the final outcome."
The Aztecs' other three competing boats all made the grand final and placed third. The varsity eight boat, coming off its first Cal Cup victory at the San Diego Crew Classic (April 2) since 1998, rowed the course in 5:08.20, just four seconds back of second-place UC Santa Barbara (5:04.18).
Meanwhile, the junior varsity (5:25.42) and the varsity four (6:09.09) boats finished third behind UCLA (first place) and San Diego (second) in both races, respectively.
SDSU joined the host school, UCLA, as the only two teams to have a boat compete in all four grand final races.
• Miller Cup 2005 Results (Grand Finals Only)
Women's Varsity 8 - Grand Final
1. UCLA, 4:47.58; 2. UCSB, 5:04.18; 3. SDSU, 5:08.20
Women's Second Varsity 8 - Grand Final
1. UCLA, 5:08.69; 2. San Diego (USD), 5:20.28; 3. SDSU, 5:25.42
Women's Varsity 4 - Grand Final
1. UCLA, 5:43.46; 2. USD, 5:58.68; 3. SDSU, 6:09.09
Women's Novice 8 - Grand Final
1. UCLA, 5:25.7; 2. SDSU, 5:27.5; 3. USD, 5:45.8
A Look Back: 2004 WIRA Championships
• At the 2004 WIRA Championships, the Aztecs claimed a pair of first-place finishes in the novice and lightweight races on the final day of competition.
The novice eight boat won the grand final with a time of 7:05.4, outpacing Sacramento State (7:10.2) and placing first of 19 boats overall.
The lightweight boat earned a first-place finish in the grand final (7:16.3), beating out California (7:22.8), Pacific Lutheran (7:46.8) and UC San Diego (8:05.0).
In other action, the junior varsity eight finished fifth in the grand final and the varsity eight was third in the petite final.
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