Newport Beach, Ca- The Bruins varsity and second varsity eights each finished second in a field of five Southern California crews on Saturday morning. The second varsity eight race was a repeat of crews from the petite final at the Crew Classic two weeks ago in which the Bruins cruised to an open water win. Today, the racing was much closer. “We got off to a good start but UC- San Diego stayed right with us,” coxswain Jennie Page.

UCLA steadily moved to a 4 seat advantage over the Tritons by the 1000 meter mark with Orange Coast and U.of San Diego trailing. UC- San Diego moved through the Bruins in the third 500 meters to take a 4 seat lead. The Tritons had control of the race as the crews approach 300 meters to go when UCLA raised its cadence and began to eat away at the deficit. “When we went into our sprint the boat just surged,” said stroke Andrew Axley.

The Bruins pulled even with 10 strokes to go as both crews sprinted for the line. “When we crossed the finish line I couldn’t tell, it was too close,” bowman Chris Crane.

UC- San Diego was declared the winner, 6:10.46 with the Bruins finishing second by .7 seconds, 6:11.17 followed by Orange Coast and San Diego.

The varsity event followed as a steady crosswind began to build. Orange Coast took a couple seat lead on the field at the start followed by UCLA and UC-San Diego. “It wasn’t our best start, said coxswain Sarah Koff, but we were right there.”

Orange Coast opened a five seat advantage by the halfway point as UCLA and Orange Coast separated from the field. The Pirates increased their advantage in the third 500 meters to one length and took control of the race. “We had a few bad strokes and lost our rhythm,” three seat Greg Gausewitz.

That is all Orange Coast needed to secure the win as they crossed the line in 5:55.5 followed by UCLA 6:02.11. San Diego and UC-San Diego went toe-to toe over the last 500 meters with San Diego crossing the line one second ahead of UC-San Diego to claim third with UC-Irvine finishing fifth.

In the novice eight race Orange Coast was the winner with UCLA finishing fifth. “Even though we didn’t get the wins we were looking for today, all the guys raced hard and we continued to improve on our race performances,” stated Coach Mokha.

Next week the Bruins meet USC in San Pedro, CA for their annual rivalry duel.