Feb. 26, 2009
SAN DIEGO -
Aztec Rowers Open Spring Season on Saturday; Look to Sweep Parker Cup Regatta for Third Consecutive Season
The San Diego State rowing team will kick off their spring season at the Parker Cup Regatta at La Ballona Creek in Marina Del Rey, Calif. The Aztecs have had great success at the Regatta, including sweeps of all the boats they entered each of the past two seasons.
SDSU will send five boats to Saturday's competition, which will feature crews from UC Irvine and Loyola Marymount. In hope of repeating last year's sweep, the Aztecs will have two entries in both the varsity eight and novice eight categories, while one shell is slated to participate in the varsity four division for the Scarlet and Black. All five events will measure 2,000 meters in length.
Saturday's regatta commences with the women's varsity eight race at 8:45 a.m., followed by the women's second varsity eight at 9:00 a.m. The women's varsity four next hits the water at 9:45 a.m., followed by the women's novice eight race at 10:00 a.m.
The best place to view the race is from the Marina Aquatic Center boathouse at 14001 Fiji Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90292.
After the Parker Cup, SDSU will continue its long stretch of road trips when it travels to Pac-10 foes USC (March 7) and UCLA (March 14), then to Northern California for more dual meets against Sacramento State and UC Davis on March 28 and 29, respectively. San Diego State won't competitively row back at Mission Bay until April 3 when it welcomes Oklahoma to the West Coast.
Flashback: 2008 Parker Cup Regatta
The San Diego State rowing team swept all five events for the scond year in a row at the Parker Cup Regatta at La Ballona Creek in Marina Del Rey, Calif. The Aztecs, competing in their first race of the season, received wins from the Varsity Eight, Varsity Four, and Second Varsity Eight boats, as well as the Novice Eight and Second Novice Eight boats.
In varsity competition, the varsity eight boat rallied from an early deficit to defeat Loyola Marymount. After getting off to a slow start which continued through the 1,000-meter mark, the Aztecs' boat made a late move over the last 500 meters to cross the line with a time of 6 minutes, 59.4 seconds, almost a full six seconds ahead of the Lions' boat (7:05.1). San Diego State's time was also the second-fastest at the event over the last six years, trailing only the 2005's clocking of 6:58.7 by under a second. The second varsity eight boat also won its race with an impressive time of 7:03.17, easily outdistancing second place LMU (7:17.6). Only the 2006 second varsity eight boat (7:00.8) rowed to a faster time at this event over past six years.
The surprise of the day might have been the Aztecs' varsity four boat, which came out on top of the three-boat race with a time of 8:21.7. UC Irvine (8:27.7) and SDSU's "B" boat (8:27.86) followed closely behind.
Both novice boats continued their dominance at the Parker Cup Regatta. The first novice eight boat rowed to a time of 7:07.4, the fastest time of its five previous Parker Cup appearances and its fifth straight victory. In fact, the next fastest time over the last five years was 2005, which had its boat win with a time of 7:20.3. UC Irvine was second in 7:38.0.
Last Time in the Water With the Aztecs
The San Diego State rowing team had a successful Nov. 2, 2008, at the Newport Autumn Rowing Festival, led by a first-place showing by the open four "B" boat.
The Aztecs' open four, consisting of Vanessa Jones (cox), Allison Hardin (stroke), Jaime Hinton (three), Anna Ohrstrom (two) and Mary Anne Hinman (bow), finished first of 17 boats with a time of 18 minutes, 18 seconds. The boat outdistanced runner-up UCLA "A" by eight seconds (18:26). SDSU's "A" boat also had a good showing with a sixth-place time of 19:15.
In the novice eight race, San Diego State's "A" boat raced to runner-up time of 17:31. Stanford "A" won the 21-boat competition in 16:33. The Aztec boat, was well ahead of third-place Tempe Town (19:00).
In addition to the "A" boat, SDSU had two others compete. The "B" boat finished ninth in 18:52, while the "C" group was 14th in 20:45.
The Aztecs also had two boats participate in the open eight race. The "A" boat finished fourth of 19 with a time of 16:10, eight seconds ahead of San Diego (16:18) and 14 seconds faster than UC Davis (16:24) and Loyola Marymount (16:24).
The San Diego State "B" boat also came up with an impressive showing, finishing eighth, just six seconds behind UC Davis and LMU.
2009 Parker Cup Regatta Lineups
Varsity Eight
Vanessa Jones (Cox)
Allison Hardin (stroke)
Michelle Boyer (seven)
Anna Ohrstrom (six)
Jaime Hinton (five)
Casi Boyle (four)
Mary Anne Hinman (three)
Rachel Mossinger (two)
Robin Lauber (bow)
Second Varsity Eight
Tanya Ochoa (Cox)
Alyson Boyd (stroke)
Alanna Call (seven)
Christina Mattos (six)
Kristin Guissanie (five)
Melissa Carey (four)
Stefanie Krach (three)
Ashley Kohler (two)
Jenna Wood (bow)
Varsity Four
Kelsey Burns (Cox)
Jessica Teora (stroke)
Leslie Sexton (three)
Kelsey Anderson (two)
Katie Rusch (bow)
Novice Eight
Caroline Trawick (cox)
Julie Moyer (stroke)
Kristin Ingram (seven)
Laurel Stephens (six)
Hillary Beard (five)
Debbie Schweer (four)
Leslie Martz (three)
Darian Kimball (two)
Ali Schroeder (bow)
Second Novice Eight
Emme Peck (cox)
Kanoe Steward (seven)
Jenny Anderson (six)
Ling Tham (five)
Caitlin Stanley (four)
Jessica Walton (three)
Christa Miesner (two)
Allison Wills (bow)