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NewsvineThe Stanford crew teams may have been far from home, but, this past weekend, they were also far ahead of their competition.
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Traveling to Eugene, Ore., after the previous weekend’s disappointing Big Row, the men’s and women’s teams pulled off five of six possible wins against Oregon State and Washington State.
The No. 4 men’s varsity eight started off with a convincing, five-second win over the Beavers (6:13.33 to 6:18.90); the men’s junior varsity and novice teams easily handled OSU by two seconds and eight seconds, respectively.
The wins bode well for the Cardinal in the upcoming Pacific-10 Conference Championships, where it will face the Beavers, along with Washington State and its top rival, No. 2 California. On Apr. 21, the Golden Bears defeated both the men’s and women’s eight teams in the Big Row.
The No. 17 Cardinal women’s varsity eight was able to make a comeback this past weekend, pulling ahead within the first 500 meters against both Oregon State and Washington State. By the middle 1000 meters, the Cardinal was two boat lengths ahead. Stanford came in at 6:55.77 while the Beavers finished in second (7:00.30) and the Cougars trailed behind (7:07.40).
“This week in practice, our boat really came together and focused on making positive changes that we felt on the water today,” junior Kerry Birk said to GoStanford.com. “We were pleased with our ability to jump into a solid and sustainable rhythm right off the start.”
The women’s varsity four also conquered two OSU teams and Washington State by a seven-second lead. However, the news wasn’t so good for the women’s second varsity eight, which came in third, four seconds behind the winning Beavers team.
Away in Indianapolis, the No. 3 women’s lightweight team saw more success. The Cardinal varsity four and eight teams each came in second to top-ranked Wisconsin but ahead of No. 4 Georgetown and Ohio State. Times were not available.
The men’s and women’s crew teams have this coming weekend off in preparation for the Pac-10 Championships on May 13 in Sacramento, Calif. The women’s lightweight teams will compete one day before at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships in Rancho Cordova, Calif.