USC Varsity Crew Breaks Eight-Year Drought to Win 3 1/4 Mile Match Race Against Bruins.

USC broke an eight-year drought against its cross-town rival UCLA when our men’s varsity crew defeated the Bruins in a 3 1/4-mile race from Ballona Creek to Marina del Rey on November 23.

The win capped off a tremendous month of racing for the Trojan Navy. In early November the Trojans swept the eight-oar events at the Head of the Marina and then ranked among the top college crews in the Newport Autumn Rowing Festival.

“Beating UCLA is what we have been trying to do for years,” said co-captain Danny Friedman. “This year has been so sweet. Everything is finally coming together,” Friedman said.

UCLA’s varsity crew took an early lead at the outset but our Trojans rowed past them to lead for the remainder of the race. USC ultimately finished five boat-lengths ahead of the Bruins with a time of 17 minutes 26 seconds.

The last time the Trojans had scored a win against UCLA was in April, 1994 just before the team was stripped of varsity status by USC administrators in their efforts to meet the gender equity requirements of Title IX.

Following the varsity race, our Junior Varsity lined up against the Bruins. It has been several years since USC has even boated a men’s JV Crew so getting this crew on the water was a feat in itself.
Unfortunately for USC, the Bruins had their measure and won the second division race by several lengths.

The final race of the morning was a battle between the rival freshman crews.

“This was a terrific clash in which our Trojans fought back from a 3/4 length deficit after 2000 meters of racing”, said novice coach Brooks Jones. Jones said his Trojans had moved through UCLA by the breakwater and then moved out to a seven boat-length victory.

As part of the victory celebrations, two shells were dedicated for the program. These were the same shells that had just earned victories for Troy.

It was a joyous James Hoffman’ 52 who was given the honors of pouring victory champagne over the bow of the shell bearing his name that our varsity men had just won in. Jack Schumacher ‘54then poured champagne over the bow of the “Spirit of 54”, a shell purchased for the program by Andy Westhem ‘54 who was unfortunately not able to make the occasion.

The name was perfect for this shell, which had just been rowed to victory by our freshman crew. The ‘SC Crews of the 1950s never lost to UCLA and it was an appropriate message to our freshman class who had just drawn their first blood against the Bruins. One alum counted over 100 Trojans at the boathouse supporting
our oarsmen. Congratulations to the Trojan Navy.