SAN DIEGO, April 4-5: The stiff upper lip that built the Trojan Navy developed a quiver at the San Diego Crew Classic when USC’s varsity crew finished third in the petite final of the California Cup. The Trojan Freshmen enjoyed more satisfying results, finishing 5th in the grand final of its event.

The result was a disappointment for the varsity crew, which was coming off a convincing win over UCLA the weekend prior.

“The boat just felt so heavy,” said varsity stroke Danny Friedman. We knew as soon as we started our warm-up that we were in trouble.”

The varsity missed out on a place in the final by just 0.21 of a second. “The horn went beep! Beep! It was so close,” recounted coxswain Emily Chin. “I was praying we had made it through.”

The varsity was relegated to the Petite Final where things did little to improve for them.

Varsity Petite Final:
1. Gonzaga 6:32.66
2. Santa Clara 6:38.10
3. USC 6:38.79
4. Texas 6:39.64
5. Rollins 6:40.84
6. Washington State 6:43.18

The freshman crew qualified for the final by defeating a spirited Orange Coast College crew in its heat. In the final the crew had its work cut out for it going up against the best programs from across the West Coast.

Freshman Eight Final:
1. California 6:13.15
2. Stanford 6:21.60
3. Oregon State 6:24.02
4. Washington 6:30.23
5. USC 6:37.86
6. UC Davis 6:40.78

Following the racing, the squad Christened its new racing shell, “AshleySierra,” named after the grand daughters of alumnus Andrew Westhem ’55. The oarsmen and alumni would like to express their sincerest gratitude to Mr. Westhem for over half a century of service to the Crew.