USC pulverizes Bruin Fleet in Thanksgiving Massacre

In 1805, after sinking both the Spanish and French Fleets and defeating Napoleon in the Battle of Trafalgar, Admiral Horatio Nelson’s flagship “Victory” sailed home to Britain with a straw broom tied to its mast, signifying the clean sweep.

Nov 20, 2005 - Marina del Rey, CA - Two hundred years later, this special naval tradition returned when a straw broom was affixed to the highest point of the Trojan Navy’s floating boathouse in Marina del Rey, paying tribute to the Trojans clean sweep of the UCLA Bruins in the Shell Games regatta held Saturday morning.

The Shell Games Regatta is an annual 3 1/8 mile autumn duel between crews from USC and UCLA. Crews raced each other from Ballona Creek, around the breakwater and into Marina del Rey, ending at Jane Bove Boathouse, home of the Trojan Fleet.


Spirit of '54

The two rival universities raced each other in three classes of eight-oared events, with USC winning all events for the clean sweep:

Varsity Eights Race:
USC 17 min 55 sec
UCLA 18 min 54

Freshman Eights Race:
USC 19 min 26
UCLA 20 min 50

2nd Freshman Eights:
USC 20 min 46
UCLA 23 min 38
UCLA 25 min 10

Leading from the outset, the varsity eights event was a procession for USC. The winning Trojan crew of Cox Emily Chin, stroke Bryan Barrett, Kevin Lorell, Jeff Clark, Sterling Brisbin, Alan Thesenvitz, Taylor Coats, Adam Fish and bowman Lee McAuliffe finished the race needing to rate only 24 strokes per minute in the closing stages to maintain an almost 1 minute advantage by the finish flag.

“We heard the Bruins had lost some key oarsmen who recently quit,” said four-year oarsman Kevin Lorell. “Their varsity crew was notably slower because of it, which is too bad. We wanted to beat them at their best, not like this.”

The USC first freshman crew of cox Amy Rutherford, Evan McKittrick, Kevin Stanek, Les Starck, Nick Babikian, Luke Monroe, Scott Vlastnick, Alex Boone and bowman Jordan Mirrer fired off the starting line at 38 strokes per minute before settling to a cadence of 28 strokes per minute about 500 meters into the race.


Coxswain Amy Rutherford

Freshman team captain Luke Monroe said he did not know what to expect going into the race: “We have a strong team philosophy on our squad that having fun comes before everything else. Of course, there is nothing more fun than winning.”

“Winning like we did against our cross-town rival was just an incredible way to start my college experience,” said Charlotte West, coxswain of USC’s second freshman crew. “We blew UCLA out of the water from the first stroke in all three races. It was very satisfying and I am proud to be a member of the Trojan Navy.”

West led her crew of stroke Chad Riddersen, Jens Back, Charles Bushby, Eric Holmes, Derek Sallay, Henry West and bowman Parth Shah in a time that was faster than UCLA’s first freshman boat.

Racing against an incoming tide, overall times were slower this year.

Shell Games Record Times:
Varsity Eight
16 min 56 USC (2004)

JV Eight
18 min 18 UCLA (2004)

Freshman Eight
19 min 06 UCLA (2004)

2nd Freshman Eight
20 min 46 USC (2005)

Celebrations soon took place on the dock after the final race with the freshman squad throwing in their coxswains. This tradition, peculiar to Crew, soon took on an all too familiar twist with the varsity oarsmen quickly sweeping the entire freshman squad off the dock and into the cold marina water as well.

FIGHT ON!