Aztecs to Kick Off Fall Racing This Weekend

After a rescheduled Row for the Cure the SDSU Men kick off their fall season.

POSTED FRIDAY, NOV 02 2007 AT 9:32 AM

The San Diego State Men's rowing team kicks off their fall season, after the delayed Row for the Cure caused by the regional fires, this weekend with two races. The Aztecs will be traveling to Club Nationals (previously known as Collegiate Club Champs) in Port of Los Angeles on Saturday, then to Newport Autumn Rowing Festival in Newport, Calif.

For Saturday's Club Nationals, the Aztecs will be racing against crews from Arizona State, USC, and several other schools. The Aztecs are hoping to show the immense depth of their novice program this year, showcasing a stacked novice eight as well as two other novice boats and a mixed varsity eight. Look for the Aztecs to come out strong in this first contest of the season. Race time for the novice is at 11 a.m. and varsity will go off at 11:10 a.m. This will be the first year that the Aztecs will be bringing all athletes to this race, which in years past has been mostly varsity only.

Sunday takes the Aztecs to the 20th annual Newport Autumn Rowing Festival where they will be competing against crews from all across the state including OCC, Stanford, USC, USD, and UCSD. This race is a roughly 4400m course through Newport Harbor with the finish in front of hosting Newport Aquatic Center. The Aztecs will show up strong here, racing a total of five boats, three novice boats, a mixed varsity eight and a varsity four of all returning rowers. The varsity eight start time is at 8:15 a.m. with the novice eights following at 9:15 a.m. and finishing off the day with the varsity four at 10.

This weekend will mark the start of the fall racing season for the Aztecs which will consist of four races, with the possibility of a fifth. The Aztecs should have a strong showing at this weekend's events as they have been building up to these first races for nearly two months now.

A Look Back to Last Year

The Aztecs had two boats compete at Port of Los Angeles on Nov. 11, 2006, varsity and novice 'A', and faced a challenge going against USC, UCSB, Long Beach State, and Cal Lightweights. The varsity eight finished the rough 5000 meter course in 17 minutes, 25 seconds, placing them at the back of the five boat race. SDSU's novice 'A' eight did not acclimate to the new course too well either, finishing with a time of 18 minutes, 20 seconds, upon restarting the race after crashing into another boat at the start.

The next day at Newport Aquatic Rowing Festival, the novice 'A' eight continued to chase down the Long Beach boat that has proved to be strong through fall, getting our Aztecs a time of 16 minutes, 38 seconds. This put our Aztecs within 7 seconds of the USC 'A' boat who were over 50 seconds ahead the day before. The novice 'B' eight came in with a time of 17 minutes, 57 seconds finishing right in the middle of the 23 boat pack.