Large Trojan Squad Fails to Deliver Results

November 11-12, 2006

USC lost the Norris Cup for the National Collegiate Club Rowing Championships to Long Beach State on Saturday and then posted its worst performance in five years at the Newport Autumn Rowing Festival on Sunday. The Trojan varsity crew finished 8th out of 27 crews in Newport.


Long Beach State with the 2006 Norris Cup.

For the Trojans it was a slip-up that felt more like a fall from a 10-story building.

“We felt out of rhythm all week,” said varsity stroke Alan Thesenvitz. “We struggled when we needed to be gaining speed.”

USC won the inaugural national championship in 2004 and repeated the victory in 2005. At the Newport Autumn Rowing Festival the Trojans had never finished lower than 2nd the previous three seasons. With the biggest returning squad in decades, the outlook for this year’s squad looked even brighter.

“We have the horse power in the boat,” said varsity coach Joe Richards. “We need to learn to be more consistent technically.”

The Trojan varsity squad will be bolstered in January with the return of former captain Bryan Barrett and Lee McAuliffe, who are currently spending a semester studying abroad.

Meanwhile, the Norris Cup continues to grow in popularity with the addition this year of UC Santa Barbara. “This is obviously still a regional race with national pretensions,” said USC Head Coach Gene Kininmonth, who organizes the regatta. “Next year we hope to convince UC Davis, Washington State and Colorado to enter crews. If we can entice Virginia, UMASS and Rhode Island it will be a true national championship for college clubs.”

Similar to the Stanley Cup in hockey, members of the winning crew have their name engraved on the cup, which is named in honor of the late Kenneth T. Norris, a USC oarsman who rowed in the early 1950s, and whose family continues to support USC today.


USC Novice Crew.

The Trojan Navy’s first ever lightweight eight began its season with resounding success defeating UC Berkeley’s novice lightweights by almost four minutes over the five kilometer course on Saturday.

RESULTS:

National Championship for Collegiate Club Eights:
(Kenneth T. Norris Cup)
1. Long Beach State 15 minutes 57 seconds
2. USC 16:12
3. UC Berkeley Lightweights 16:20
4. UCSB 16:58
5. San Diego State 17:25
Scratched Arizona State

Novice Lightweight Eights:
1. USC 18:43
2. UC Berkeley 22: 41

Novice Heavyweight Eights:
1. Long Beach State 17:20
2. USC ‘A’ 17:28
3. UCSB 17:56
4. San Diego State 18:20
5. USC ‘B’ 19:11
Scratched Arizona State

USC’s three novice eight-man crews finished 5th, 10th and 13th out of 23 novice crews in Newport Beach.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL NEWPORT ROWING FESTIVAL RESULTS

Next up for the Trojan Navy is a scrimmage with UCLA on Saturday, November 18