RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. – The No. 2 Stanford lightweight varsity eight won gold in the Grand Final of the WV8 D1/Open event at the WIRA Championships on Lake Natoma Sunday.
This was the second time this spring the Cardinal has been at a regatta with a two-day format that included prelim heats on Saturday and finals on Sunday. Both at the San Diego Crew Classic and the WIRA Championships, the Stanford varsity eight won its Saturday race and then captured some hardware with gold medals in the Grand Finals.
“These regattas have been an emphasis for our team,” said head coach Al Acosta. “We want to go hard on Saturday, go back to the hotel and recover and then come back with a better race on Sunday and we have been able to do that both in San Diego and this weekend at WIRA’s.”
Headwinds on Sunday slowed times a little, but didn’t affect the will to win for the Cardinal. Going up against other school’s openweight boats, Stanford stepped up to the challenge and won by open water with a time of 6:53.0. They finished just over four seconds ahead of Sacramento State and 6.5 seconds in front of Saint Mary’s.
“The team did a nice job of putting together a consistent race,” said Acosta. “They were consistent all the way through, which was a focus for our boat. We had a more complete race today than we have had.”
The varsity eight has now won six of its eight races this spring, including all four of its races in two-day regattas.
Five Stanford lightweights earned their chance to compete for the first time this spring. Racing in the Lightweight Four event, coxswain Amanda Quay guided Lauren Jospeh, Julia Vazquez, Paige Watson and Anja Young to a silver medal. They finished 5.5 seconds back of the UC Irvine A boat with a time of 8:13.42.
The second varsity eight also raced in a Grand Final on Sunday. The Cardinal finished in fifth place as the only lightweight boat in the race, posting a time of 7:05.17. They were in an intense finish with San Diego State with less than one second separating the two for fourth and fifth place.
Stanford will be back home next weekend to compete against Cal in the annual Big Row at Redwood Shores on Saturday. First race of the Big Row is tentatively scheduled for 9 a.m.
WIRA Championships
Lake Natoma
Rancho Cordova, Calif.
April 27, 2014
Results
WLt4 Grand Final
Varsity Four
1. UC Irvine A – 8:07.7
2. Stanford – 8:13.42
3. Washington State A – 8:22.74
4. Long Beach State – 8:49.33
5. Washington State B – 9:08.82
6. UC Irvine B – 9:40.83
W2V8 D1/Open Grand Final
Second Varsity Eight
1. Sacramento State – 6:53.10
2. Saint Mary’s – 6:56.79
3. Portland State – 6:57.63
4. San Diego State – 7:04.19
5. Stanford Lightweights – 7:05.17
6. Loyola Marymount – 7:14.29
WV8 D1/Open Grand Final
Varsity Eight
1. Stanford Lightweights – 6:53.0
2. Sacramento State – 6:57.27
3. Saint Mary’s – 6:59.5
4. Portland State – 7:01.7
5. Seattle – 7:02.14
6. Loyola Marymount – 7:08.07
Boat Lineups
1V8 – Coxswain Jordan Duval-Smith, Brittany Presten, Jackie Huddle, Christine Cavallo, MacKenzie Crist, Bailey Yuro, Alicia Kapjian-Pitt, Katherine Christel, Molly Hayes
2V8 – Coxswain Allison Nguyen, Anna Wietelmann, Erin Antono, Brianna Goldstein, Katie Torigoe, Nicole Gilmore, Kate Kidd, Morgan Mahlock, Sarah Hirshorn
1V4 – Coxswain Amanda Quay, Paige Watson, Anja Young, Julia Vazquez, Lauren Jospeh