No. 1 Rowing sweeps four finals at San Diego Crew Classic

Sunday, March 27

San Diego, Calif.

University of Texas

San Diego Crew Classic

No. 1 Rowing sweeps four finals at San Diego Crew Classic

03.27.2022 | Rowing

Texas boats remain unbeaten through the first two competitions of the season.

SAN DIEGO – No. 1 Texas Rowing swept four finals races at the San Diego Crew Classic on Sunday on the Fiesta Bay-Crown Point Shores of Mission Bay Park.

Racing against many of the top-ranked programs in the country, including Pac-12 powerhouses No. 3 Washington, No. 9 California and No. 16 USC, the Longhorns remained unbeaten through the first two competitions of the season.

"The Crew Classic is a terrific event and an important step in what we're looking to accomplish," said Texas head coach Dave O'Neill. "I'm obviously happy with the results and the way we raced across the entire team. We have a lot of work to do in the weeks ahead, but winning in San Diego always feels good."

Texas' First Eight started things off for the Longhorns with a victory in the Collegiate Varsity Jessop-Whittier Cup Invitational Final with a time of 6:26.625, besting runner-up California's I Eight (6:32.803) by 6.538 seconds and Washington (6:34.660) by 8.395 seconds.

"The first eight looked pretty sharp and did a terrific job," O'Neill said. "It was great to have Aspa Christodoulidis back in the boat after missing a few weeks. She made a positive impact right away."

The Four followed with a victory in the Collegiate Varsity 4+ Karen Plumleigh Cortney Cup Final, winning a tight race against USC with a time of 7:27.748, topping the Trojans (7:32.532) by 4.784 seconds, and the Second Eight topped California for the Collegiate 2V Jackie Ann Stitt Hungness Trophy with a time of 6:42.947 to narrowly defeat the Bears (6:45.242) by 2.295.

"We expected the second eight to have a tight race, and that's what it was," O'Neill said. "I was impressed with the length and power of Payten Kooyers and Lanie Nitsch in the middle of the boat.

"The four has shown to have sown good speed for the full distance. They have a great combination of youthful enthusiasm and experience, power and finesse."

The Third Eight had a slight mishap around 600m into their race for the Carley Copley Cup when they caught a crab and lost a length, The crew fought back to win with a time of 6:49.725 to defeat runner-up California (6:55.070) by 5.345 seconds.

"The third eight was awesome. They could not have handled that adversity any better," O'Neill said. "Everyone stayed focused as they worked their way back into the race. We had four freshmen in that boat, and it was great to see them stay cool in that situation. Credit to the stern pair of Jane McGee and Rachel Craycroft and coxswain Z Romero."

Next up, the Longhorns hit the road once against and will square off with No. 3 Michigan on Saturday, April 9.

SUNDAY RESULTS
First Eight
Collegiate Varsity Jessop-Whittier Cup Invitational Final
1. TEXAS - 6:26.265
2. California - 6:32.803
3. Washington - 6:34.660
4. USC - 6:37.234
5. UCLA - 6:46.825

Second Eight
Collegiate 2V Jackie Ann Stitt Hungness Trophy Final
1. TEXAS - 6:42.947
2. California - 6:45.242
3. Washington - 6:49.583
4. USC - 6:51.055
5. Stanford - 7:02.893
6. UCLA - 7:06.018
7. Gonzaga - 7:07.152
8. Oklahoma - 7:14.563

Four
Collegiate Varsity 4+ Karen Plumleigh Cortney Cup Final
1. TEXAS - 7:27.748
2. USC - 7:32.532
3. California - 7:39.908
4. Washington - 7:49.702
5. Oklahoma - 8:02.271
6. Gonzaga - 8:02.917
7. UCLA - 8:07.788

Third Eight
Women's Open 8+ (Heat 1 – All to Final)
1. TEXAS – 6:49.725
2. California – 6:55.070
3. Washington – 6:57.571
4. Baja California St. – 7:12.359
5. USC – 7:18.310
6. Univ. of Calgary – 7:23.919
7. Bates College – 7:55.302

LINEUPS

First Eight: Rachel Rane (coxswain), Kaitlin Knifton (stroke) Susanna Temming, Anna Jensen, Etta Carpender, Aspa Christodoulidis, Francesca Raggi, Sophia Calabrese, Lisa Gutfleisch (bow)