March 20, 2006

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Women's Crew took to the waters of Lake Natoma this past weekend in the WCC Challenge, taking part in a pair of races in Saturday's round-robin format. Racing against two of the WCC's toughest crews, the Broncos fell in a pair of races against Gonzaga and San Diego.

The Bronco women will return to the water Wednesday, March 29 at the Stanford Lightweight Duel in Redwood City.

In the morning race on Saturday, Santa Clara fell behind Gonzaga early on and dropped a 23-second decision, coming in with a 2,000-meter time of 7:14.3 while the Bulldogs turned in a time of 6:51.4.

Against San Diego in the afternoon, windy conditions hindered each crew's attempt to find a solid rhythm, but after a close first 1,000 meters the Toreros pulled away for the win. The Broncos finished with a time of 7:39.3 while the Toreros turned in a time of 7:13.8.

"We knew Gonzaga was going to be fast and our goal was to row a solid 2000-meter race," said Women's Crew head coach Carlo Facchino. "We raced hard but didn't seem to be matching up as a boat and our time was a slightly slower than expected. Against San Diego we had a solid first 1000 meters of the race and we were staying competitive with USD. But during the second 1000 meters we fell off the pace and finished well behind."