SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The No. 12 Stanford men’s rowing team took to the water for the first time in 2015 at the San Diego Crew Classic on Saturday.
The two Cardinal boats each finished second in their heats to advance to the Grand Finals.
“It is always important to make the Grand Final,” said head coach Craig Amerkhanian. “Our guys work extremely hard and we want them to see that hard work pay off.”
The varsity eight was the first to race and came in just over five seconds behind Navy with a time of 6:04.00. Stanford was three seconds faster than Grand Valley State. The second-place finish set up a chance for the Copley Cup on Sunday. The Cardinal will race against Navy, Cal, Penn, Grand Valley State, Drexel and British Columbia.
“It was an honor to race against the Naval academy and they had a great race,” said Amerkhanian. “We got a great deal of Intel today and will be looking to take a positive step forward in both boats tomorrow.”
Two freshmen made the varsity eight for the first race of the spring season with Will Spencer sitting five-seat and Allen Reitz in two-seat. Second-year walk-on Peter Wood has worked his way into a varsity eight spot and stroked the boat on Saturday.
The second varsity eight had a huge 30-second advantage over UC Irvine for second place, but was 6.7 seconds back of first place Penn. Stanford will be in the Grand Final on Sunday and will race against two Cal boats, Navy, Penn and British Columbia for the Sharp Cabrillio Cup.
The 2V8 was stroked by freshman Misha Wilcockson, a product from London, England. Another freshman from London, John Cirenza, also raced with the 2V8. The duo from overseas were joined by freshman Jovanni Stefani from San Francisco as first-year student-athletes to make the lineup.
Meanwhile, the third varsity eight will get its first chance to compete during the spring season on Sunday. The boat will be in the men’s collegiate 3V final. Stanford will be in lane one for the race at 9:12 a.m.
San Diego Crew Classic
San Diego, Calif.
March 28, 2015
Results
Varsity Eight Heat B
1. Navy – 5:58.86
2. Stanford – 6:04.00
3. Grand Valley State – 6:06.99
4. British Columbia – 6:10.36
Second Varsity Eight Heat C
1. Penn – 6:12.28
2. Stanford – 6:18.98
3. UC Irvine – 6:48.10
4. Santa Clara – 6:50.07
Lineups
Varsity Eight
Coxswain – Nathalie Weiss
Stroke – Peter Wood
7 – Scott Roycroft
6 – Kaess Smit
5 – Will Spencer
4 – Ryan O’Rourke
3 – Max Freundlich
2 – Allen Reitz
Bow – Ryan Hails
2V8
Coxswain – Ardsley Sanders
Stroke – Misha Wilcockson
7 – Nico Cserepy
6 – Robbie Ostrow
5 – Andrew Terajewicz
4 – Landon Alecxih
3 – John Cirenza
2 – Jovanni Stefani
Bow – Erik Holmvik