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Crew Sweeps Second at USC Invitational
April 12, 2008
San Pedro, CA - LMU showed great improvement from its performance at last week's San Diego Crew Classic as the men rowed to second place finishes in all three events at the USC Invitational Saturday at Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, CA. The day got started with the George Gordon Cup, contested by the varsity 8 boats from USC, LMU, and UC Santa Barbara. Racing against a slight outgoing tide with a very mild cross wind, the Lions started slowly as USC built a lead. LMU closed the gap down the stretch to force a close finish but the Trojans held on for victory by just 0.23 seconds. USC finished in 6:37.88 with LMU crossing the line in 6:38.11, an improvement of 14 seconds from the previous week. UCSB placed third in 6:47.21. The second event of the day was the men's pairs, with LMU's David Cronin and Scott Wike returning to competition for the first time since taking gold at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association championships last May. Cronin and Wike finished in 8:02.77, good enough for second behind USC's "A" boat (7:37.41). USC's "B" pair was third in 8:29.91, with UCSB fourth in 8:53.87. LMU sent four boats out into the final event, the varsity four. In another tight contest, UCSB edged LMU's "B" vessel by a second, 7:25.15 to 7:26.78. USC was third in 7:31.14, followed by LMU's novice boat (7:53.76), the LMU "A" (7:54.26) and the second novice four (8:20.00). "I was pleased that we were able to make up so much ground on USC's varsity 8 after our poor showing at the San Diego Crew Classic last weekend," Men's Coach Brooks Jones said. "It was great to be in such a tight race and I am pleased with the way that our training is going."
LMU is off until the West Coast Conference and WIRA Championships May 2-4 at Lake Natoma in Sacramento. |
