• CREW CLASSIC RESULTS

SAN DIEGO, Calif.  – The Seattle Pacific women's varsity eight crew rowed to a fifth-place finish Sunday in a tightly packed grand final field on the final day of the San Diego Crew Classic at Mission Bay.
 
The NCAA Division II Falcons' top eight-oared crew lineup up against five Division I schools in the UCSD Health Cup final. Their performance proved they belonged in that exclusive company.
 
Drexel won the race by a boat length, covering the 2,000-meter course in 6-minutes, 48.58-seconds, and Loyola Marymount was second in 6:52.52.
 
The remaining four boats finished within three seconds of each other. San Diego posted a third-place time of 6:55.86 followed by Sacramento State in 6:56.19.
 
Seattle Pacific was two seats back in 6:57.16 with a three-seat advantage over sixth-place Georgetown, which finished with a time of 6:58.80.
 
"Overall, to make the final and to be right in the pack is a big success for the program," said third-year SPU coach Andrew Derrick, who was pleased but not completely satisfied. "Bottom line, we have to figure out how to come up with a win when we are in those one- and two-second gaps late in the race."
 
Drexel broke in front early from the fast-starting field and SPU trailed through the first 500 meters. The Dragons and Loyola surged ahead while the remaining four boats were all in contact with the Falcons moving into fourth by the midway mark.
 
At 1,500 meters SPU made a strong challenge for third place, but was held off by Sacramento and surging San Diego during the final sprint.
 
"It was a great race. We struggled in a couple areas, the start wasn't the best," Derrick described. "We knew that a lot of these teams were going to be really fast out of the start and take a jump. We talked about being a little bit more elastic and having a the confidence and poise to reel them back in.
 
"The team did a really good job of not letting anyone break contact and staying right in the pack."
 
SPU turned the tables on Georgetown, which was nearly three seconds faster a day earlier in a winning heat performance.
 
The Falcons earn a berth in the final with a third-place finish in Saturday's heat racing. They clocked a time of 6:50.57 and held off Division I crews from Saint Mary's (Calif.) and Fordham to advance. Georgetown's winning heat time was 6:47.89 and Sacramento was second in 6:49.36.
 
Seattle Pacific's varsity eight crew is helmed by junior coxswain Jacqueline Kemp with San Diego native Chloe Remley occupying in the stroke seat. The other rowers are Gillian Edgar, Megan Chalfant, Suzanne Stafford, Julienne Renne, Shelby Janes, Jennifer Hoag and Kaitlin Dickinson.
 
In two days of racing the Falcons did not face Division II rival UC San Diego, which is ranked third nationally and SPU is No. 5. The Tritons were not fast enough in Saturday's heats to earn a grand final berth and they had a second-place time of 7:05.24 in Sunday's petite final.
 
"We would have loved to have had a chance to go head-to-head with them, they're a really good team and one of the top teams in the West for sure," Derrick said of UC San Diego. "We were really happy with our margins against the common opponents on the weekend."
 
Next Regatta
The SPU rowers take two weeks off from competition before taking part in the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships, April 27-28 on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif. The two-day WIRA event serves as the West Coast championships.
 
Coach Derrick is anxious to continue preparing for the final push to a potential NCAA Championships invitation. He also looks forward to reuniting his team as the rest of the rowers were in Oregon on Saturday at the Covered Bridge Regatta.
 
"Three weekends in a row with races, so the team's a little tired. It was productive to be split squad, but it will be really nice to get everyone back together and get back to training.
 
"Racing can kind of get in the way of training, but we needed the experience. Now we can get back to getting faster on these next couple weekends instead of proving our speed. We'll keep our nose to the grindstone and get back to work."
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S ROWING
San Diego Crew Classic
Sunday, April 7, 2019
Mission Bay / San Diego, Calif.
 (all races 2,000 meters, only SPU event listed)
 
UCSD Health Cup Varsity Eights
Grand Final
1, Drexel, 6:48.58
2, Loyola Marymount, 6:52.52
3, San Diego, 6:55.86
4, Sacramento State, 6:56.19
5, Seattle Pacific, 6:57.16
6, Georgetown, 6:58.80
 
Petite Final
1, Wisconsin, 7:00.01
2, UC San Diego, 7:05.24
3, Saint Mary's, 7:08.23
4, Fordham, 7:15.70
 
     SPU lineup: cox-Jacqueline Kemp, stroke-Chloe Remley, 7-Gillian Edgar, 6-Megan Chalfant, 5-Suzanne Stafford, 4-Julienne Renne, 3-Shelby Janes, 2-Jennifer Hoag, bow-Kaitlin Dickinson.