March 7, 2005

USD Women's Rowing continued its strong start to the 2005 season, outracing St. Mary's College on Mission Bay this past Saturday. The Toreros made their win look effortless, beating the Gaels in Varsity Eight by 27 seconds (over 2, 000 meters).

"I am so pleased with the progress of the squad this season," said Head Coach, Joan O'Hara. "I began making some pretty significant changes to their technique and their training this fall, which was a difficult process. At this point, it looks like their bodies have successfully made the adaptations. We are rowing quite well and our overall fitness has improved tremendously."

Coach O'Hara gave the Toreros a stroke-rating cap of a 26 for the races. "I wanted to assess how effective we were with just our bare-bones power per stoke; nothing fancy. It took a lot of discipline for the women to keep their stroke rating so low when they knew their opponents would be racing at a 30, plus. But they did it, and I think this will solidify their confidence in our ability to move the boat."

The Torero Novices fared well also, placing first and second over St. Mary's in the Novice Eights event. This was the first sprint race for the squad. "We are all glad to have this first race experience under our belts," commented Novice Coach, Bri Leissoo. "For almost all of the Novices, this was their first 2K ever! Both boats did a great job and felt really positive about their performance. We've come a long way from September!"

The Toreros next event is the West Coast Conference Challenge in Sacramento, March 19th and 20th.

San Diego vs St. Mary's College
Fiesta Island Shore, Mission Bay
March 5, 2005

Conditions:
Water calm
Wind slight cross, head
Tide outgoing, against race course

Race Results

Women's Varsity 8+
USD 1 7:43
USD2 7:57
SMC1 8:10

Women's Novice 8+
USD1
USD2
SMC1
*due to technical problem, no times were recorded for the Novice event

Women's Varsity 4+
SMC 8:43
USD 8:51