Saturday's Results/Sunday's Schedule
SAN DIEGO – The Sacramento State women's varsity eight posted the third fastest time in its heat during the first day of the San Diego Crew Classic on Saturday morning at Crown Point Shores Park in Mission Bay. With its finish, the varsity eight advanced to Sunday morning's Cal Cup petite final.
The varsity eight wasn't the only Sacramento State boat to advance to a Sunday petite final, as the second varsity eight and varsity four also qualified for their respective petite finals. The Hornets' open eight and second varsity four entries will both compete in a grand final on Sunday.
Racing conditions included increasing cross winds and tide levels throughout the day.
Sacramento State's varsity eight missed qualifying for its grand final by less than a second as the top two boats from each of the three heats advance to tomorrow's Cal Cup final. In the Hornets' heat, San Diego State won with a time of 7:00.42, followed closely by Old Dominion (7:01.07) and Sacramento State (7:01.81) to round out the top three in the six-boat field. Had Sacramento State been one second faster, it would be competing for the Cal Cup title in the morning. Instead, the Hornets' top boat will race at 10:56 a.m. tomorrow in the petite final against Fordham, George Washington, Portland, Saint Mary's and St. Joseph's.
The Hornets' second varsity eight placed fourth in its heart of seven boats, as the team's time of 7:10.19 trailed Cal (6:40.75), Wisconsin (6:48.59) and San Diego (6:54.48). The Hornets did finish ahead of San Diego State, and will be racing in its petite final tomorrow morning at 8:24 a.m. against San Diego, UCLA, Tennessee, Kansas State and British Columbia.
The top four boats in the two open eight heats qualified for the grand final, and the Hornets were able to squeeze into the grand final by virtue of placing fourth in its heat with a time of 7:38.15. The open eight will be the Hornets' last race of the day tomorrow as the boat will compete in its eight-boat grand final at 1:23 p.m. against Cal, Texas, Stanford Lightweights, Gonzaga, British Columbia, USC and San Diego State.
The varsity four rounded out the four Sacramento State boats that competed today as it finished fourth in its heat with a time of 7:59.02, trailing USC, Washington State and Tennessee, respectively. The boat will compete in tomorrow morning's petite final at 8:40 a.m. against Tennessee, Gonzaga, Kansas State, UC San Diego and Saint Mary's.
The Hornets' second varsity four did not have to compete today and was automatically slotted into tomorrow's grand final at 11:52 a.m. against USC, San Diego, UCLA and San Diego State.
"Overall, as a team, I felt like we raced fairly well," Sacramento State head coach Mike Connors said. "Its a little disappointing the varsity eight did not qualify for the grand final, and I'm hoping we race better tomorrow across the board with all our boats."
For complete results of every race at today's San Diego Crew Classic and tomorow's schedule, click here or the link above the story.
