Come out and cheer on our Trojans!

Our next race will be the Bob Hillen Cup against UCLA on May 5th.

The Novice 4 was the first race of the day.  Off the start they commanded the lead and led the race by one length over Orange Coast. Everytime Orange Coast attempted a move to take seats on the Trojans, USC held and countered.  Coming into their last 200 Orange Coast started their sprint and due to speaker malfunction, our crew did not hear their coxswain call the sprint. Orange Coast walked through before our Novices knew to sprint but it was too late and they ran out of water to respond.  A well fought race by our Novices.

The next race of the day was the Novice 8.  Having 7 athletes in the boat new this Spring, the squad focused on racing the crews closest to them: Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara.  They got off to a great start and had a four seat lead over  their focus crews but unfortunately let the excitement of the race and their inexperience lead to them settling to a 37 stroke rate! Although it felt great for the first thousand meters, a crew that has only been rowing for three months can’t hope to sustain it and they were walked through coming past the Orange Coast boathouse finishing behind the other crews.  We’re looking forward to facing Long Beach State in two weeks with a little more practice under our belts and a little more controlled race plan.

The last race of the day was the Varsity 4.  The Trojans got off the line well behind the leader from Chapman and spent the next 1500 battling the Chapman crew.  As they came into their sprint they had expended most of their energy fighting Chapman and Orange Coast was able to slip ahead of them at the last second securing second and putting USC in third.  A well fought race and we hope to rebound for our next few races.

The Pursels and the Crowes were kind enough to supply snacks and refreshments for the team while some other notable alumni supported the crew as well! Along with the usual group of almuni from recent years, long time supporter Stan Mullin was there to see one of the best showings the program has had in years. John Taylor (last year’s volunteer coach who help keep the program alive) was happy to see the oarsmen rowing well and incresing in number.

The Novice 8, being filled with so many newcomers, got the toughest lane draw you could possibly get: the dreaded lane 7. They were also lined up against the best teams in the event with only two going to the final.  Being so early on in their training, our Novices went out there to race as hard as they could and hold onto their technique through the rough water lane 7 presents. Varsity teams Cal and UCSD earned their spots in the Grand Final while two more Varsity teams from Orange Coast College and Santa Clara secured the Petite final spots. This left the three club teams, Long Beach State, Sonoma and USC without a final to participate in.

Our next race had our four varsity members and four novice members racing in the afternoon against a field of fellow collegiate athletes from club and varsity teams alike.  From the start they commanded the race, leaping ahead and holding open water to win their heat and earn themselves lane 2 in the Grand Final.  When their final arrived, they were surrounded by some of the fastest crews at the race including the CRC (a collective of elite rowers training for the national team), The Little Knights (defending champions), Cal, Boston University’s top boat and a UC San Diego boat.  With the chance to race against such high caliber opponents, the guys were asked to challenge it head on and race as if they were going to win.  Right off the start the crew from USC led the race to the 500 meter mark and were able to hold off the rest of the field until 1200.  At that point the elite oarsmen from the CRC, Little Knights, and Cal were able to push through.  The Trojans finished the race in 5th.

We are proud to say that USC showed presence in the master’s event with a full alumni boat racing on Sunday. With a six boat race and an open lane 2, the Trojans raced from lane seven. It was a rough start through the first 650 with the Trojans fighting to keep their place among the other crews. Once they settled into their swing, however, the alumni took a commanding move at the 700 meter mark to push through Lincoln Park. They finished 5th with a boat length lead! We hope to start a tradition of alumni boats at this regatta.

A big thanks goes out to all the family, friends, and alumni who came out to support the team.

We have entered one boat the Open event against teams such as the CRC (a national team training center), Cal, the Little Knights (a collective of world class coaches and rowers), and many others.  Our Novice boat will be racing in the Novice A event against three of the top four novice boats from the past three years; only two will qualifying for the grand final!

On a different note, continuing our young alumni push to keep Trojans on the water, we have a group racing in the Master’s A event on Sunday at 1:40.  Show ‘em how it’s done boys!

Keep checking out our  twitter for up to date results as they happen and back here for the full recap.  More race info can be found on Crew Classis home page here

Enter promo codes, USCMENSCREW and USCMCREW2012 to check out the two pages

http://team-shop.lidsteamsports.com/

Make sure you get your gear before its too late! The store closes this Sunday.

Our Varsity and Novices spent their mornings in small boats either logging 20,000 meters of rowing or mixing it up with time on a “dock box” (a rowing seat and rigger attached to a dock for technical practice)at the Orange Coast College Boathouse docks. This allowed coach Long-Lerno to really get in and analyze the individual problems and address them hands-on. By the end of the week our second novice boat was able to row all 8 continuously without any problems.

The athletes were then able to go and enjoy a brief break and lunch before returning to the Newport Aquatic Center to get in the 8′s and 4′s for another long practice putting together all of the technical changes they made and learned to row with the rest of their boat. During this time they pushed themselves all the way around lido isle, out to the open ocean and then back home to the NAC logging between 15,000 and 20,000 more meters.

Needless to say, by the end of the week our guys were beyond exhaustion. We capped off the trip with UCI, who seems to be this year’s top Southern California club team, in a race coach Long-Lerno dubbed a “let’s see how tough you can be” race. Because of the size of our varsity squad, we only raced the novice 8′s in a morning that can only be described as horrendous compared to our almost tranquil waters of San Pedro. The races got off and our second novice boat, comprised of athletes who had only been rowing between one week and 1.5 months, went up against UCI’s relatively veteran squad. They fared extremely well until a crab in the second 500 caused a break in their momentum that UCI capitalized on and was able to pull away with winning the race. Next up, our Novice A squad came down the course and both teams were moving blisteringly fast. Through their second 500 USC was on pace for a 5:40. Unfortunately, exhaustion from the week got the better of them after their move at a 1000 meters in and UCI pulled away to win the race.

The trip got our guys motivated and ready to train through the rest of our Spring for a peak at the National Championships in Georgia. Make sure you come out as much as you can!

In the first race of the day we had our two novice 8′s race against LMU’s novice 8. Our Second Novice 8 did a fantastic job in their first race of the season considering their entire boat joined the squad this season and two of them joined just two weeks before the race!
Lineup: Cox: Ian Beck, Stroke: Vincent Yang, Justin Shida Zhang, Michael Cowan, Leo Zhao, Taylor Jolin, Eric Matranga, Alex Millan, Bow: Roman Bekker.
The 2N8 posted a 6:55.

Our Top Novice 8 had a duo of mishaps during their race. They started their race very solidly going head to head with LMU’s novice squad. After settling to a nice, low 30-32 race pace, they began to steadily take seats. Once they had a length lead, one of the oar’s popped out of its oarlock and the boat struggled by 6′s to fend off the squad from LMU while they put their oar back in. They were finally able to get the oar back in and start battling back from open water down. After pulling four seats back into LMU, our stroke seat’s rigger snapped clean off at the base making him unable to pull at maximum strength. From there, LMU was able to continue pulling away to win the race by a few lengths of open water. A strong fight from our Novice A boat when so many things went wrong!
Lineup: Cox: Isabelle Wuilloud, Stroke: Carter Crowe, Erick Sanabria, Brandon Kisch, Blake Dethlefssen, Ryan Delijani, Felipe Saltz, Martin Seifrid, Bow: Clinton Suh.
The N8 posted a 6:20.

Next up came the Varstiy four. This was another great start from the Trojans. They held and moved up on the LMU varsity oarsmen in their starting sequence and settled into a nice low 30-32 stroke rate. Here we had another equipment failure with our mic going out and the oarsmen heard nothing from their coxswain for the rest of the race. They stayed at their long and strong 30-32 stroke rate and LMU chipped away at them time and again with ten and five stroke moves to take the lead. Without a coxswain, the rowers had no indication of when to sprint or take moves. LMU took the lead and finished about two lengths ahead.
Lineup: Cox: Megan Pursel, Stroke: Dan Slutsky, Sam Bush-Joseph, Dan Morison, Bow: Alec Wiggin
The Varsity four posted a 6:43.

Last was the second varsity four. This boat was comprised of 3 novices and one more varsity oarsmen. The boat stroked by novice Yoshua (only 3 weeks into rowing) got off the line quick and held the lead for the first thousand meters and again held LMU even until the last 500 meters. It was there that the lack of time rowing from our novices gave out to the experienced Varsity oarsmen from the LMU second varsity four.
Lineup: Cox: Mighten Yip, Stroke: Yoshua Lo, Brandon Chang, Zach Kobos, Bow: Robin Cho
The 2V4 posted a 6:53

USC will race UCI on Saturday, March 17 after Spring Break Training. Come out at and support the Trojans. Race times are TBD. Keep checking the website for updates.

This Saturday March 3rd at Ballona Creek.

Come out and cheer on your Trojans as they battle against the LMU Lions in their Spring 2012 season opening dual!

The LMU boathouse is located at the following address

Jane Browne Bove Boathouse
13669 Fiji Way
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

Please bring a few dollars in anticipation of paid parking as the parking lot belongs to a marina shopping center. The parking lot is on the right hand side before the street ends and loops back around. Park there. The water in front of the boathouse will be the marina, but the race will actually be in the creek, on the opposite side of the street. Follow the street down to where it ends and loops back (as if you kept driving instead of turing into the parking lot). You will see a bike path that goes to the left and then turns right to follow the creek.
Racing starts at 9:00.

After the racing ended we led our alumni across the bay to Park Newport to feast on burgers, hot dogs, potato salad and the likes overlooking the bay and watching the last of the events attendees pull out their trailers for the drive home.  All in all, a successful first day of racing despite the conditions and a great way to reinvigorate our athletes for the rest of the fall.