April 18, 2009- After a week off from racing the Bruins headed down the 405 to compete against five So Cal crews at the Newport Invitational.

The Varsity 4 started the day with a very competitive outing as USD and the Bruin crews traded the lead all the way down the course with UCSD trailing by more than a length. In the final 250 meters San Diego were able to push ahead for a 3 second win. “For this being our first race as a four I thought we had a very good row, said 2-seat Chris Crane. I think we have a lot of potential and will get faster as we continue to race together.”

The revamped 2nd novice 8 took the field by surprise as they pressed a very good Orange Coast crew, the event winner, and broke open water on the entries from UCSB and UC-Irvine to take a solid second.

The frosh/novice A boat, with the addition of Brett Beekley and Jon Sanglerat from the JV boat, was in the thick of the race for the first 1600 meters. They battled UCSB and USD for third place, behind Orange Coast and UCSD, with no more than a couple seats separating the three crews. The Bruins had a very poor last 400 meters and fell of the pace placing 5th ahead of UC-Irvine.

The varsity 8 race had four of the top six finishers from the Crew Classic in it ensuring a very exciting event. The Bruins did not disappoint. UCLA jumped out on the field and worked there lead to a half a length by the 1000 meter mark. The third 500 saw UCSD, Crew Classic winners, and runners-up San Diego overtake UCLA as the three crews fought for the lead. UCSD and San Diego pulled away from the field with UCSD winning just 3 seats over San Diego with the Bruins taking third. Orange Coast was open water back of the Bruins in 4th with UC-Irvine finishing 5th. “This was our best race of the year, said stroke Marin Reschke. We had a very aggressive mentality and put together a full 2k.”

“I was pleased with the entire team today. We had new line-ups in every boat and I definitely saw some positive steps forward, stated coach Paul Mokha. The varsity 8’s ratio was just a little off in the middle 1000 allowing two good crews to pass us but overall a good performance.”

The Bruins face the USC Trojans next Saturday starting at 10am on Ballona Creek.