SACRAMENTO, Calif. – San Diego Men's Rowing rounded out competition at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships on Lake Natoma over the weekend with three of four boats on the podium in grand finals.
 
Both the First and Second Varsity Eights finished runners-up while the Novice Four finished in third place in Sunday, April 27th's grand finals.
 
"All three crews raced with grit in the final, acting on the changes we wanted to see," USD Head Coach Bart Thompson said. "While we would have liked to have won, it was a strong performance from the team."
 
The First Varsity Eight of coxswain Jonah McDonnell, stroke Derek Hissong, Jacob Zelenko, Rex Bales, Sam Pigott, Gable Krich, Jadyn Conover, Joe Tortella and bow Stephen Sayler used a first-place finish at 5:58.05 in their Saturday heat to qualify for the grand final. On Sunday, they crossed the finish line at 5:54.49, less than a second and a half behind winners Santa Clara.
 
The Second Varsity of Eight of coxswain Nick Lee, stroke Dawson Hein, Kacen Hamada, Colin Mulkerrins, Owen Park, Jacob Corfey, Blake Luehrman, Aiden Domingo and bow Marco Altamura also finished first, in 6:09.41, in their heat Saturday. Similarly, the crew finished narrowly behind a Santa Clara boat in Sunday's grand final, by a margin of less than four seconds.
 
The Novice Four was the third winner of a heat on Saturday, as the shell with stroke seat Owen Park, Warren Roach, Jet Himmelberg, bow Jack Conley and cox Lilly Moyer crossing the finish line on Lake Natoma at 7:09.03.
 
The lone boat on the weekend to not win it's heat and podium in a grand final was the First Varsity Four. Finishing sixth in the heat on Saturday morning, stroke Max Salem, Warren Roach, Bradan O'Loughlin, bow seat Kacen Hamada and coxswain Conor Fox improved on their team in the afternoon third final at 7:20.49, claiming third place.
 
Up Next
The next competition for USD sees the Toreros return to Sacramento's Lake Natoma in three weeks' time for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships. It will be the program's first championship regatta since officially joining the MPSF as a conference member this fall.