USC
Pac-10 Championships
USC Women's Rowing Earns First Pac-10 Conference Championship
May 14, 2007 | Women's Rowing
May 13, 2007
Complete 2007 Pac-10 Rowing Championship Results in PDF Format
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GOLD RIVER, CALIF. - The No. 1 Women of Troy arrived at Lake Natoma and made a resounding statement. With each varsity boat taking the medal stand throughout the day, the team earned enough points to outpace stiff competition from perennial Pac-10 women's rowing powers, No. 8 California and No. 16 Washington.
This is the first conference championship for the USC women's rowing team and comes in the fifth year since husband and wife Zenon Babraj and Kelly Babraj took over the program. The conference championship also secures a team bid for the Trojans into the 2007 NCAA Women's Rowing Championships taking place in Oak Ridge, Tenn. in two weeks. The Trojans last competed at the NCAA championships as a team in 2005.
"This is a great culmination to a great season for these kids. They worked hard and they had hard races but eventually, they put together a great team," said head coach Zenon Babraj. "We were confident that we could win the varsity eight race, but winning the conference championship is just icing on the top of the cake. Every one of our boats performed at their level or above and that is what brought the success we had today."
The Trojans matched strokes with a strong championship field by taking 71 out of a possible 80 points. With 40 points coming from a dominant showing in the women's varsity eight grand final, USC would tack on their additional 31 by placing third in grand finals for both the women's varsity four and second varsity eight. The novice Trojan women would also qualify for their grand final for only the third time in program history and finish sixth in the final standings. California would take second place amongst women's crews with 61 points, followed by Washington with 58; No. 10 UCLA 56; No. 18 Stanford and No. 20 Oregon State with 51 points each and Washington State with 40. Stanford won fifth place in the final team standings by virtue of a higher finish in the women's varsity eight grand final event.
The impressive Trojan varsity eight coxed by redshirt junior Lauren Cowan, would flex their muscles in their qualifying heat, stroking with great ease and still coming in first. The Women of Troy had performed well as a team all day, including strong showings in the morning heats by all boats, but were within reach of California and Washington in total team points heading into the women's varsity eight grand final. However, the incredibly efficient combination of freshman stroke Gabriela Varekova, No. 7 sophomore Magda Madziewicz, No. 6 junior captain Ligita Kaviere, No. 5 junior Dunja Pejcic, No. 4 junior Tatiana Boldyreva, No. 3 freshman Liene Bertasjus, No. 2 sophomore Robin Hextrum and bow-seat, junior Diana Ivanova proved once again to be unstoppable; having defeated all of their competition so far this season.
With the lady Bruins hot on their trail at the halfway mark of the 2000-meter course, the Trojans would make a strong move; leaving Stanford and Cal to battle it out for third place rights at the time. The Cardinal and the Bears would however create a dramatic finish of their own by each overtaking UCLA in the final 500 meters of the race. Save the Trojans' (6:39.80) seemingly assured first place finish, the complexion of the final standings took on a new look down the stretch. Stanford (6:43.30) surged ahead to come in only four seconds behind the Trojans by edging out rival California (6:44.50) by a mere 1.2 seconds. UCLA would settle for fourth place, finishing at 6:48.70, but barely holding off the Oregon State (6:50.50) women who had also surged towards the end to overtake the lady Huskies (6:55.30). The USC win is the first ever varsity eight victory for the Trojans, who finished in third by just 1.3 seconds a year ago at the 2006 Pac-10 Rowing Championships.
Senior captain Jessica Smith said, "We're just so excited. We've all set records. Varsity has never won gold before. I can't tell you how great it feels for all of the varsity team to have medals."
| Varsity Eight Grand Final | |||
| Entry | Time | ||
| 1 | USC | 6:39.80 | |
| 2 | Stanford | 6:43.40 | |
| 3 | California | 6:44.50 | |
| 4 | UCLA | 6:48.70 | |
| 5 | Oregon State | 6:50.50 | |
| 6 | Washington | 6:55.30 | |
The JV eight won the bronze medals, matching their highest finish at the Pac-10 championships for only the second time in program history, having last accomplished the feat in 2000. The JV women raced a strong race in their morning qualifying heat coming in second only three seconds ahead of fourth place Stanford, the only Pac-10 JV boat to not make the grand final in that event. Washington jumped out to a lead in the second varsity eight grand final but California would soon catch the Huskies at the halfway mark of the race. The Trojans held on for third place, outlasting a UCLA boat that had defeated them in Marina Del Rey, Calif. only two weeks ago. With a chance to overtake the Huskies themselves, the Trojans would give it one final push at 250 meters but the Washington crew would respond to secure second place and the silver medals.
| Second Varsity Eight Grand Final | |||
| Entry | Time | ||
| 1 | California | 6:53.10 | |
| 2 | Washington | 6:57.00 | |
| 3 | USC | 6:59.30 | |
| 4 | UCLA | 7:04.50 | |
| 5 | Oregon State | 7:05.50 | |
| 6 | Washington State | 7:11.20 | |
The women's varsity four grand final started the afternoon off with much excitement with all crews in close contention early on. Washington had a comfortable two-seat lead over Gonzaga while Gonzaga was racing bow to bow with Stanford at the 750-meter mark. The Huskies would lengthen their lead by the halfway point in the race but second, third, fourth and fifth place were all in short proximity of each other with about 500 meters left to go. In an amazing photo finish, Gonzaga (7:42.20) would give it their final burst at the end to cross the line just two seconds ahead of USC (7:44.20). The Trojans however, were able to barely hold off Oregon State who would arrive just four tenths of a second behind at 7:44.60 with Stanford finishing at fifth just a second behind the Beavers.
Aware of the close finish in her grand final, sophomore coxswain Denise Kobashikawa said, "I told my boat that we were in a sprint and that it was going to be hard and aggressive. They knew we were just one seat down for third place and they just hit it at the end there."
| Varsity Four Grand Final | |||
| Entry | Time | ||
| 1 | Washington | 7:39.70 | |
| 2 | Gonzaga | 7:42.20 | |
| 3 | USC | 7:44.20 | |
| 4 | Oregon State | 7:44.60 | |
| 5 | Stanford | 7:45.80 | |
| 6 | Washington State | 7:51.40 | |
For only the second time in program history, the novice eight would qualify for the grand final in their event. Comfortably ahead in their morning heat, the novice Trojans would finish with a time of 7:06.90 over a disqualifying time of 7:12.40 turned in by the California novice eight. In the grand final however, the novice women showed some signs of fatigue and got out of the gate sluggishly, falling behind in the pack right from the get go. By the halfway point of the race, the Trojans were clearly battling it out for fifth against the Washington State Cougars. While defending champion Gonzaga was clearly a cut above the rest of the novice crews, the battle for second was waged between Washington and UCLA. Although Oregon State threatened that position with about 750 meters remaining in the race, an equipment malfunction at 200 meters remaining allowed the Cougars to slip by into fifth place. However, at that point, the Trojans were too far behind to catch even a struggling Oregon State crew and completed the grand final in sixth place.
| Novice Eight Grand Final | ||
| Entry | Time | |
| 1 | Gonzaga | 7:06.80 |
| 2 | Washington | 7:12.00 |
| 3 | UCLA | 7:14.00 |
| 4 | Washington State | 7:25.00 |
| 5 | Oregon State | 7:27.80 |
| 6 | USC | 7:33.90 |
On Saturday, the second USC varsity four competed in the women's open four division at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships, also held on Lake Natoma. Coxed by senior Anna Liberovsky and stroked by sophomore Julia McIlvaine, the crew would win their qualifying heat by outdistancing second place UCLA with a time of 8:07.80 to 8:12.50. With the help of sophomore Claire Tenscher, redshirt junior Nichole Fischbach and freshman Kacey Maher, the second varsity four would complete their grand final in second place at 8:11.10 behind California's winning time of 7:56.90 and take home the silver medal.
Up next, the Trojans prepare for the NCAA women's rowing championships. Securing a team bid to the championships for only the second time in school history, the Women of Troy will race a first and second varsity eight and a varsity four boat on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. on May 25-27.
For a full conference championship recap, including men's results, please visit www.pac-10.org
For up to date results, news and rankings, please visit www.row2k.com
| 1st Varsity Eight | JV Eight | Varsity Four | Novice Eight | |
| Coxswain | Lauren Cowan | Lisa Sabalvaro | Denise Kobashikawa | Catherine Humenuk |
| No. 8 (Stroke) | Gabriela Varekova | Anna Specjalska | Laura McDaniel | Michelle Taft |
| No. 7 | Magda Madziewicz | Nana Gagatsovi | Shelley Koskovich | Andrea Vehovec |
| No. 6 | Ligita Kaviere | Anna Efremova | Ewelina Nowak | Lisa Greenwood |
| No. 5 | Dunja Pejcic | Bara Varekova | Cassie Richardson | Annie Smythe |
| No. 4 | Tatiana Boldyreva | Phebe Greenwood | Blair Bartlett | |
| No. 3 | Liene Bertasjus | Kinga Marciszewska | Gigi Terril | |
| No. 2 | Robin Hextrum | Carin Andersson | Leah Pace | |
| No. 1 (Bow) | Diana Ivanova | Jessica Smith | Alexandra Tapley |
