REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. – The No. 11 Stanford men’s rowing team faced a tough challenge on Saturday as they faced off against No. 2 Cal in the 81st Big Row.
“This regatta has always been about family,” said head coach Craig Amerkhanian. “We gather to honor the memory, inspiration and power of former Cal coxswain Jill Costello. We also raced for one of our own today. Our fight was for Diane Johnson, who is the mother of senior Cole Johnson and is going through a battle with cancer.”
The Stanford men wore special tank tops for the occasion with the initials DEJ written on the left chest and the Stanford block “S” printed on the front.
Stanford won the varsity eight race last year and held the Schwabacher Cup for the past year, but Cal regained the trophy on Saturday with a victory. The Cardinal finished with a time of 5:53.0, just under 10 seconds behind the Golden Bears.
“We felt like going into this race we were racing with the strongest lineup we have,” said sophomore coxswain Nathalie Weiss. “We had a really good first 500 meters and a good race for our boat, but Cal is a really strong team this year.”
Stanford lost by a similar margin in the frosh eight. Four freshmen who have competed in the varsity eight this year were all in the frosh boat, but could not overtake Cal’s group. Stanford notched a time of 6:03.7 to finish nine seconds back.
Cal had its biggest win of the day in the second varsity eight race. The Cardinal had a time of6:26.1, while the Golden Bears finished in 5:55.4.
The Big Row marked the final home race for three Stanford seniors as Austin Hack, Johnson and Will Robins all raced for the final time at Redwood Shores.
Stanford will have two weeks off before they head to Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif. for the Pac-12 Rowing Championships on Sunday, May 18.
Big Row
Redwood Shores Lagoon
Redwood Shores, Calif.
May 3, 2014
Results
Varsity Eight
1. Cal – 5:43.2
2. Stanford – 5:53.0
Second Varsity Eight
1. Cal – 5:55.4
2. Stanford – 6:26.1
Frosh Eight
1. Cal – 5:54.6
2. Stanford – 6:03.7
Boat Lineups
1V8: Coxswain Nathalie Weiss, Nico Cserepy, Scott Roycroft, Austin Hack, Kaess Smit, Dave Dolben, Andrew Gyenis, Robbie Ostrow, Ben Chuter
2V8: Coxswain Greg Wolk, Kendall Fagan, Karl Wessendorf, Ben Weems, Max Drach, Andrew Terajewicz, Grant Glazer, Cole Johnson, Will Robins
F8: Coxswain Ardsley Sanders, Sean-Patrick Sullivan, Ryan Hails, Ryan O'Rourke, Charlie Walker, Peter Wood, Erik Holmvik, Max Freundlich, Brendan Larkin