Any athlete will undoubtedly tell you there isn’t a better placeto finish the season than at the top – especially as you get ready toenter another season.
The San Diego State crew team did just that in finishing out itsfall season among the top boats in the San Diego Fall Classic atMission Beach Sunday morning.
TheAztecs put the finishing touches on their fall season as thenovice-four boat finished first, the three SDSU eight boats finishedfirst, second and sixth in the open eight, and the two novice-eightboats finished first and fifth.
“The novice team did really well out there,” head coach JenniferZebroski said. “They are picking up a great amount of confidence andenthusiasm which they are going to be able to use in the competitivespring season.”
The novice-four boat, steered by first-time coxswain AileenGonzales finished with a time of 28:57 in the 3.5-mile course to beatout UC Santa Barbara (31:33) and ZLAC (32:31).
The novice-eight boats, placing first and fifth, finished withtimes of 22:45 and 24:24, respectively. Finishing second, third andfourth, respectively, were Loyola Marymount (24:18), USD (24:21) andUCSD (24:23).
The three varsity boats finished in first (22:27), second (22:44)and sixth (24:27) in the women’s open eight race.
“The varsity has been dedicated and is looking at this offseasonas their chance to get more competitive and make some progress,”Zebroski said.
SDSU will now take some time off to get ready for its competitivespring season, which begins with scrimmages Feb. 21 and 28 againstOrange Coast College and the Aztec alumni, respectively.
The regular season then begins with the San Diego CityChampionships, the San Diego Crew Classic, the WIRA Championships,the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships and the Pac-10 Championships.
Top returnees for SDSU in 2003-04 include seniors and co-captainsStella Conger and Stephanie Snaman and senior coxswains Ali Abramsand Alicia Chudy. Fifty-one returnees, recruits and those new to thesport of rowing will round out the team.
The fall season regattas consist of time trials. Each boat isreleased 10 seconds apart to finish with as fast a time as possible -possibly without even seeing the competition. The spring regattaswill see all the boats start together and competing face to face.
“Our four goals for the seasons are to build a solid fitness base,instill unity in the athletes, improve last year’s results and have agreat time developing our team’s success,” Zebroski said.
