Dec. 4, 2005
December 4, 2005 - Marine Stadium, Long Beach, CA
USD Women's Rowing dominated the field this past weekend in Long Beach at the 38th Annual Bill Lockyer Christmas Regatta. A different kind of event, the race distance for this regatta was 850 meters, as opposed to the 6000-meter races the team had been training for all Fall. "I wanted to give the athletes a chance to do something entirely different, and to have fun!" commented Head Coach, Joan O'Hara. "We are just beginning to transition into our training for the Spring Season in which the racing distance is 2000 meters, so this regatta was a chance for the team to catch a glimpse of what sprinting is all about."
Because the races were so short, Coach O'Hara had each athlete compete in multiple events. Most of the athletes raced the course four or five times, between heats and finals. "I wanted the rowers to train and compete in boats that were less familiar, and more challenging, to them than the eights; so most of them raced in pairs or fours in addition to the Women's Eight." Apparently, less familiar doesn't mean less successful for these Toreros. Of the four USD entries in the Women's Open Pairs, all of the boats made into the final, and the top pair, Senior Christy Baker and Sophomore Jaquelyn Harris, won the event in a time of 3 minutes 30 seconds.
In addition to trying out new boats, the rowers tried new line-ups as the Men's and Women's squads teamed-up in the Mixed Eights events, winning the Gold in the Open Eights, and the Silver in the Novice Eights. Together, the Men and Women won the Collegiate Points Trophy for the strongest college team of the regatta.
"This team has done such a terrific job all season. They have maintained extremely high standards and gotten the job done at every single race. I could not have asked for a more exciting, or more rewarding fall season," said Coach O'Hara. "So I wanted to give them a chance to participate in a regatta at which the stakes were not so high and they could relax a bit, and simply have fun rowing! And they did! They had a great time - and won just about every event of the day. Not a bad way to wrap-up the Fall!"
At the end of the day, the Torero Women took home three Gold, two Silver, and one Bronze and won the Long Beach Century Club Trophy for the fastest Women's Eight of the regatta. The Torero Eight finished the course in 2 minutes and 37 seconds, racing against a current.
The Toreros will resume team training in January when they return from Winter Break. The first official race of the Women's Spring Season will be the Yergler Cup against St. Mary's College on March 4th on Mission Bay.
