On a perfect day with perfect weather, the Sacramento State women’s varsity-eight rowing team could no longer sustain its perfect 6-0 record, falling to Stanford University on Saturday at the Aquatic Center in Rancho Cordova.

Stanford won the varsity-eight race with a time of 6 minutes, 42.7 seconds while Sac State followed with a 7:03.8 mark.

“This is great race experience. It definitely helps to race high-quality teams and to be behind and not get demoralized,” varsity team member Mieke Boynton said.

The lineup for Saturday’s race changed as Jamie Weatherfield sat in at the five spot for Erika Bracey, who rested a sore shoulder in anticipation for this weekend’s San Diego Crew Classic.

“This is good preparation for the San Diego Crew Classic,” Weatherfield said. “It will push us to push harder there.”

The second-varsity and novice-eight teams faired no better.

In the second varsity-eight race, Stanford’s “A” team finished with a time of 6:58.08 and Stanford’s “B” team followed with a time of 7:12.0. The Hornets came in last with a time of 7:17.7.

The novice-eight team also fell victim to the Cardinal as Stanford timed in at 7:06.2 while the Hornets completed the race with a time of 7:18.1.

The Hornets played host at the start of spring break at the Sacramento State Invitational at the Aquatic Center on Mar. 23 and 24.

Sac State’s varsity-eight team picked up three wins, defeating Indiana University by five seconds, and Stanford’s lightweights by seven seconds. In their final race, the Hornets finished ahead of Loyola Marymount University by almost four seconds.

“We didn’t come in expecting to win,” Boynton said. “It was exciting to beat Indiana handily Sunday. We got ahead and stayed ahead.”

The women’s second varsity-eight team dropped two races on the first day of the invitational, falling to the University of California, Berkeley’s “C” team and behind Cal’s second varsity-eight team.

On the second day of the invitational the Hornets rebounded and came in over ten seconds ahead of their closest competition – University of California, Davis – with Loyola Marymount trailing by 25 seconds.

The novice-eight team also lost two races on the first day of competition, coming in two seconds behind Indiana and five seconds behind Cal’s “B” team.

The novice eight was victorious in the second day of racing, finishing with a time of 7:27.4 and leaving UC Davis “B” 20 seconds behind.

The team will participate in the San Diego Crew Classic this weekend.

“(Crew Classic) is the big away trip and we always get to have a good time at it. If we can get into a final I think we have a good chance to medal,” second-varsity team member Pattie Shagman said.