April 27, 2003
San Pedro, CA - The unfamiliar waters of the Los Angeles Harbor were not a factor as the Cardinal Women's Crew took the V8, 2V8, and the N8 events over host USC.
The varsity four kicked off the morning schedule. The Stanford boat got off to a rocky start losing seats in the first 10 strokes of the race. The boat managed to settle down but could not make up the lost ground losing to the Trojans by 5.2 seconds. Senior Stacie Solt said of her boats race, "It was a solid race but we just could not inch our way back. I have great confidence in this boat over the next two weeks as we work to move up in the Pac-10."
The second varsity rebounded from a two second defeat to USC at the San Diego Crew classic by winning today by open water. The boats came off the start even but the Cardinal gained throughout the body of the race winning by 4.7 seconds. Junior Molly Loeb states, "This was a huge race for our boat after two weeks of solid practice. We got a length and every time they would move a little closer we would move back."
As anticipated, the varsity eight event was a hotly contested race from start to finish with USC getting an early lead. At the 500 meter to go mark the Cardinal grabbed the momentum and rallied to a full boat length lead. Senior Laurie Benson states, "We anticipated that USC would be right with us down the course just like they were in San Diego. We kept our composure and stayed with them and then took the lead in the sprint."
With rowers doubling from the varsity four the novice eight got off to a two-seat lead from their start. USC made a strong move in the second 500 meters and pulled bow to stern by the halfway mark. At the 1250 meter point a Trojan rower had a miscue with her oar. Stanford took advantage of the mistake and raced to a 23 second win.
Next up for the women's crew is their last home race of the season where they will face cross-bay rival California on Saturday. May 3. Races will begin at 9:00 am.
V4USC 7.34.5Stanford7.39.7 2V8Stanford6.37.0USC6.41.7 V8Stanford6.31.2USC6.34.2 N8Stanford7.12.8USC7.36.0