Trojan Navy wins bronze medal in varsity fours event

Lake Natoma, Calif, - May 13 – USC finished in fifth place at the PAC-10 Championships on Sunday, winning a bronze medal in the Varsity Fours event along the way. USC’s Rowing Women of Troy won their first ever PAC-10 title over the weekend.



The bronze medal finish in the Men’s Varsity Fours event is only the second medal the USC men have produced at a PAC-10 Championships. The first was won in 2004, also in the Varsity Fours race.

PAC-10 Men’s Championship (Points)
1. Washington (69)
2. California (66)
3. Stanford (48)
4. Oregon State (45)
5. USC (32)
6. UCLA (24)
7. Washington State (18)

USC Head Coach Gene Kininmonth said he was pleased to see that his program had for the first time entered crews in all four PAC-10 Championship events. “We finally have the numbers on our squad this year and going forward I would expect quantity to lead to better quality. Next year we expect to catch Stanford and Oregon State in the points.”

All PAC-10 events were finals-only this year with the exception of the Men’s Frosh Novice Eight, which had heats in the morning. The USC Novice crew of coxswain Drew Moxon, stroke Ryan Hasvold, Collin Evans, Buck Scalese, Ryan Moore, Mike Boosalis, Daniel Camin, Paul Van Dyk and bowman Mark Martinez were seeded eight for the event and needed to upset No. 5-seed UC Davis to advance to the final.

“Davis lead us off the start but our race plan entering this regatta was to focus more on the second half of the race,” said coxswain Drew Moxon. “My boys made their move just after the half-way mark and we rowed our way past Davis and into the grand final.”

USC opened the afternoon racing with a bronze medal finish in the fours event. The Washington Huskies exploded off the start to lead all crews by well over a boat-length in the early stages, with USC and UC Berkeley battling for silver. The Trojan four of coxswain Emily Chin, stroke Alan Thesenvitz, JC MacMillan, Adam Fish and bowman Lee McAuliffe maintained a quick tempo and left the crew from Oregon State well back in fourth place.

Cal made a move by the halfway mark of the 2000m final while Washington looked to be imploding from the energy spent in the early stages. By the final stages the order of finish was determined.

Men’s Varsity Coxed Four
1. California 6:44.13
2. Washington 6:47.48
3. USC 6:52.31
4. Oregon St 6:58.41

The bronze medal is the second for senior coxswain Emily Chin, who also coxed USC to its first ever PAC-10 medal in the Varsity Fours event in 2004. Emily has coxed the Varsity Eight all four of her years at USC and with two PAC-10 medals; she graduates from the University as one of the Trojan Navy’s most successful coxswains.

After racing Emily addressed her fellow crewmates: “Thank you all for making my senior year amazing,” she said. “In my four years at ‘SC, I honestly believe that nothing has defined me more than Crew and nothing has made me as miserable or as ecstatic as waking up every morning to be out on the water with you guys.”

Men’s Frosh/Novice Eight
Grand Final
1. California 5:55.3
2. Washington 6:02.7
3. Stanford 6:16.3
4. Oregon St 6:19.7
5. UCLA 6:34.2
6. USC 6:43.8
Petite Final
7. Wash St.
8. UC Davis

Men’s JV Eights Final
1. Washington 6:02.2
2. California 6:08.1
3. Stanford 6:14.1
4. Oregon St 6:29.4
5. USC 6:48.6
6. Wash St. 7:15.7

Men’s Varsity Eights Grand Final
1. Washington 5:46.2
2. California 5:47.8
3. Stanford 5:53.0
4. Oregon St 5:58.3
5. UCLA 6:10.2
6. USC 6:48.6
7. Wash St 6:34.5

Next up for the Trojan Navy is the IRA National Championships where USC plans to enter the Varsity Pairs event with seniors Alan Thesenvitz and Jonathan MacMillan.