REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Men's Rowing officially opened its spring 2025 racing schedule with two regattas this weekend as both varsity eight crews racing at the Redwood Shores Invitational and the California Challenge Cup.
At the Redwood Shores Invitational in Redwood City, Calif., the 1V8+ (Jonah McDonnell, Derek Hissong, Dawson Hein, Sam Pigott, Rex Bales, Gable Krich, Jadyn Conover, Jacob Zelenko, Stephen Sayler) triumphed in its opening race over Santa Clara on Saturday morning in a tightly contested race. USD finished in a time of 6:07.0, with Santa Clara coming across the line at 6:10.3.
"I'm proud of the guys for this hard-fought victory," said head coach Bart Thompson. "We were dead even entering the bridge at the halfway point, but the guys dug in and made a great move in the second half of the race to win by a bit of open water. They showed grit, poise, and tenacity out there, and have every reason to feel pride in their performance in this race."
In Saturday's second race, the crew – the same group of rowers, but with Nick Lee swapping into the coxswain seat – dropped a race to Cal's 4V8+ in much windier conditions. The Toreros finished in 6:34.4 behind the Golden Bears' 6:18.7. On Sunday morning, USD, in its original lineup, raced Stanford, coming across the line in 6:30.3 against the Cardinal's 6:04.5
"Our opponents on Saturday and Sunday are two of the top 5, top 10 programs in the country," Thompson remarked. "We learned a bit more about ourselves in those races, in particular our need to be able to internally hold to the standards that we set for ourselves every day."
For the 2nd Varsity Eight, the single-day race in Newport was a resounding success. The regatta features a shorter-than-usual 1400-meter course, and all the entries race three times within about three hours.
USD's opening race saw the Toreros' 2V8+ entry (Lilly Moyer, Santi Gomez, Colin Mulkerrins, Kacen Hamada, Jacob Corfey, Blake Luehrman, Joe Tortella, Marco Altamura, Aiden Domingo) beat the Orange Coast College entry by a little under a length, finishing in 4:12.8 to the OCC's 4:15.1.
An hour later, USD, with Conor Fox coming into the coxswain's seat, and Max Salem coming into the race lineup, dispatched UC Irvine in relatively comfortable fashion, finishing in 4:33.5, with UCI finishing in 5:00.6.
The Toreros' two victories set them up to face UCLA for the California Waypoint Challenge Cup in the third race of the day. There, the second Varsity eight, in its original lineup, took care of business, finishing in 4:22.2 compared to the Bruins' 4:25.1.
"This is a group that has come a very long way in the past few weeks," said Thompson. "They've been finding more speed and developing a much better rhythm and flow, and it's awesome to see that growth rewarded with a victory today. Hopefully we will build on this excellent day of racing and continue to take big strides as we prepare for the Crew Classic."
Up Next
The Toreros have a fixture against USC next on March 21 on Otay Lake in Chula Vista, Calif., before racing at home on Mission Bay for the San Diego Crew Classic on Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March 30.
Results
Redwood Shores Invite Results
California Challenge Cup
