May 3, 2008

Lake Natoma, CA - The men's pair of David Cronin and Scott Wike led the charge Saturday, surging into the finals as LMU competed at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships at Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, CA. The men's pair will be one of four LMU boats that will compete in their event's Grand Final on Sunday.

The defending WIRA champions, Cronin and Wike waited until 3 p.m. for the opportunity to defend their title. Rowing in the second heat, the duo won the race in 8:04.7, easily outdistancing second-place finisher Seattle Pacific University (8:17.0). Cronin and Wike's time was the fourth-fastest on the day and they will row for the championship out of lane two at 8:50 a.m. Sunday.

LMU's women's second varsity eight booked its place in the Grand Final thanks to a third place finish in heat one. In a tight race for second place, San Diego State (7:14.5) pushed ahead of LMU (7:15.0) at the end while the Lions edged out the University of San Diego (7:16.2) for the final spot on Sunday. LMU will row out of lane six at 10:30 a.m.

Also rowing in Grand Finals on Sunday will be the men's and women's lightweight fours, who had their preliminary heats cancelled on Saturday. The women will start at 9:20 a.m., followed 10 minutes later by the men.

The men's and women's varsity eights will also compete Sunday, with the men rowing in the Third Final at 10:50 a.m. and the women challenging for the Petite Final at 11:20 a.m.

In other action Saturday, the women's lightweight eight pushed the Cal Lights over the entire 2000m Grand Final course but Cal was too much in the end, winning in 7:16.2 to relegate the Lions to second in 7:22.1. There was good news as the men's novice four claimed the Petite Final in 7:34.1, outpacing Long Beach State by nine-tenths of a second. In the women's novice four Petite Final, LMU finished fourth out of six in 8:56.9. Other results included the women's novice four placing fourth out of six in 8:38.2, the men's novice four was fourth of five in 7:14.2, and the men's varsity four finishing third of six in its head in 7:21.5.