May 14-15, 2005 –Lake Natoma, CA - In a double header session of collegiate rowing, the Trojan Navy competed at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships and the 46th Annual Pac-10 Championships, held at Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, CA, over the weekend.



On Saturday the Trojans entered the Freshman Four and Open Four events of the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships. Both USC crews finished in the top three in the preliminary heats and qualified for the Grand Finals. USC finished fifth in the freshman fours and sixth in the open fours event.

In the Pac-10 Championships on Sunday USC needed to finish in the top three in its preliminary heat in the Varsity Eight event against Cal Berkeley, Oregon State, UC Davis, Sacramento State and Loyola Marymount University. Racing without injured six-man Ryan Steers, the Trojans were unable to keep with the pace of the top three and finished fourth behind Cal, Oregon State and UC Davis.

The varsity were then relegated to the petite final and finished second behind Washington State and ahead of LMU and Sacramento State.

The Freshmen Eight Crew faced a similar disappointment to the varsity, also finishing fourth in its heat behind Washington, Oregon State and Washington State. In the petite final the crew then suffered a broken rigger on the way to the start and could not race.

“Although our PAC-10 season did not conclude how we might have hoped, I feel this team faced the adversity of injuries and broken equipment with their heads held high. We met as a team after the regatta and the consensus is that the USC Men’s Crew will move forward again in 2006,” said Coach Gene Kininmonth.

Freshman Jonathon Brown said he is excited to return next season. “Team unity is high and everyone is excited to return next season. With a bigger team to share the passion, I know we will return the Trojan Navy to the grand finals at the PAC-10s next year.”