March 23, 2002

WILMINGTON, Calif. - The USC women's rowing Varsity Eight boat breezed past San Diego State in the first race of the spring season on Saturday at the USC Boathouse in the Port of Los Angeles. The Women of Troy crossed the finish line nearly 30-seconds ahead of the Aztecs.

But the Varsity Eight's success was the Trojans' only definitive victory as San Diego State won three of the four remaining races.

The morning began with a Novice Eight "A" and a Novice Eight "B" race. The Aztecs crossed the finish line first in each by a slim four-second margin in the "A" race and a 22-second margin in the "B" race. San Diego State then went on to win the Varsity Four race in a time of 8:31.5, while USC trailed at 9:28.5.

The Trojans were ahead by a length in the fourth race of the day before USC's JV Eight boat caught a crab (crab=when the blade gets twisted in the water and the rower loses control of the handle), allowing the Aztecs to pull even. The two boats crossed the finish line in 7:23.6.

Following are complete race results:

Varsity Eight
(1) USC - 6:45.3
(2) San Diego State - 7:16.6

USC Varsity Eight: Ivelina Boteva, Katrin Gleie, Jeanne De Lapoyade, Zoë Hoskins, Marketa Vochoskova, Katie Sadalski, Andrea Korom, Andria Shook, Melissa Zimel.

Varsity Four
(1) San Diego State - 8:31.5
(2) USC - 9:28.5

JV Eight
(t1) USC - 7:23.6
(t1) San Diego State - 7:23.6

Novice Eight "A"
(1) San Diego State - 7:32.4
(2) USC - 7:36.5

Novice Eight "B"
(1) San Diego State - 7:49.6
(2) USC - 8:11.1