The Sacramento State women?s rowing team ferociously paddled their way to victory against the UC Davis Aggies en route to winning the Jean Runyon Cup for the fourth consecutive time on Saturday at the Port of Sacramento.

Hornet coach Bill Zack made a note to himself that day, saying he wanted to keep the trophy, and he thought the varsity-eight was confident enough to keep it.

“I thought, if UC Davis rowed their best race and we rowed our best too, we would win,” Zack said.

Zack said his strategy for the race was to “gauge their effort” and try to stay ahead early, but that wasn?t the case for the varsity eight. Davis took a four-seat lead early on in the 2,000-meter race, but the Hornets caught up to the Aggies and drew even about 500 meters into the race.

The Hornets continued to press on and opened up a lead, eventually winning the race with a time of 6:52.4. Davis finished second in the race with a time of 6 minutes: 58.8 seconds.

“We had several scrimmages with Davis [before the meet], and we won all of them,” Zack said, “We were confident going in.”

The Hornets? second-varsity rowing team also won their meet against Davis with a time of 7:12.5.

Davis finished the race second with a time of 7:14.3. Zack said it was the first time that both the varsity eight and the second varsity won. Zack said the Davis coach told his team to stay with the Hornets? second varsity, and then see what happens.

The Hornets novice-eight were the only ones to lose on Saturday, placing third with a 7:32.6 time, behind two Aggies teams. The team is filled with first time rowers who could potentially help the team next year.

The Hornets are now 7-1 for the season and will host one more meet against the University of Cincinnati on Saturday, before they move on to the postseason. Zack is confident that his team will win the conference.

“As two-time defending champs, we are doing well.” Zack said.

Send comments, questions, or concerns to [email protected].

For questions or information regarding the site,please contact [email protected]