Redwood Shores, March 20: Following an intensive seven days of spring break training in the Port of Sacramento, USC opened its PAC-10 season with losses to Stanford and the University of British Columbia.

"The varsity crew trained harder and rowed more miles this week than any other crew I have coached," said Coach Gene Kininmonth. "We
raced without two of our program's top oarsmen and with the extra mileage on the team's legs we just did not have what was needed to win today."

The Trojan Navy entered spring break without Leif Vigelund and Ian Topic.  Vigelund, a 6'4" junior from Norway ceased rowing in March due to a degenerative disc in his spine and is now out for the season. He is replaced by Jeff Clark, a 6'0" sophomore from Salt Lake City, UT.

Ian Topic, a 6'3" junior missed the race due to academic commitments in London, UK but returns to the team on Monday. Freshman Alan Thesenvitz replaced Topic and raced in all four events on Saturday.

"Allan did a really fine service to our program today," said freshman coach Brett Winfield. "To his credit, the freshman and varsity crews both raced faster and faster as the day went on."

The freshman crew concluded the weekend's racing on a positive note by defeating Sacramento State.

Redwood Shores Regatta:
Freshman Eight:
Stanford 6:04
USC     6:21

Varsity Eight:
Stanford 5:54
USC     6:12

Varsity Eight:
Univ. British Columbia 5:58
USC     6:07

Freshman Eight:
USC     6:15.9
Sacramento St. 6:28

Varsity Eight:
Stanford 6:03.9
Univ British Columbia 6:05

Next up for the Trojan Navy is its annual dual against cross-town rival UCLA in the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro on Sunday, March 28.