Often times in sports the key isn’t consistency, but peaking at the right time. Despite slow starts in the varsity eight and in the total competition, the Sacramento State women’s rowing team came back in the race and the regatta to win its group on Sunday at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center.

In closely battled 2000-meter race, the Hornets got off to a slow start and trailed Texas and University of Central Florida at the 500m point. The Hornet crew made up distance between the 500m and 1500m points, and overtook Texas at the finish, winning by half a second. Sac State finished four seconds ahead of the third place UCF.

Based on both days’ races, Sac State, Texas and UCF finished in a tie with 12 points in group three. The Hornets took top honors in the bottom group because the tiebreaker goes to the winner of the varsity eight race.

“We’ve had a lot of people sick, and had to deal with a lot of lineup changes this week,” said Mike Connors, Sac State head coach. “The varsity had a lineup change this week, we lost one of our best rowers. “

One of the crew’s strongest rowers, Megan Riggs, was ill and was replaced by Michelle McMullen, returning from a back injury.

Cal and Sac State hosted the inaugural Lake Natoma Invitational at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center. The two-day event featured four west coast teams and five teams from other regions of the country. Five of the nine teams are ranked among the top-20 crews in the country: No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Cal, No. 16 Wisconsin, No. 19 UCLA and No. 20 Minnesota. Sac State, Tennessee, Texas and UCF completed the nine-team regatta.

The west coast teams dominated Sunday, with Cal, UCLA and Sac State each winning their varsity eight race and winning their individual groups. Cal, winning in the top group, won the overall competition with victories in the varsity eight and varsity four.

“[Our varsity eight] went 6:20.5, which is fast,” Cal head coach Dave O’Neill said. “I think our 2005 varsity eight set the record here and I think they were 6:20.7 so I’m really pleased. They are a really strong group.”

The groups for Sunday were determined during Saturday’s races, when each team competed in a morning and afternoon heat. All of Sac State’s boats finished third in the three-boat heats on Saturday.

The Hornet varsity eight improved on their Saturday performance by nine seconds over its morning time and by 17 seconds over its afternoon time.

The Lake Natoma Invitational was received well by all the coaches and the teams. Besides perfect weather for the regatta, the entire event was run well.

“From the coaches perspective it was great. Not just because our team was successful, but fair racing, everything runs on time and we get accurate times and good comparisons between crews,” O’Neill said. “What we were looking to do was have real racing between different regions so we can take some of the decision making out of the NCAA selection committee hands. And I think we did that.”

Connors said finishing seventh in the nine-team regatta was a positive result for Sac State. The Hornets hadn’t beaten Texas since 2000 and had never beaten UCF.

“You have to race up – as we say – or compete up sometimes against opponents that are either deeper or stronger and just monitor your progress that way,” he said. “When you’re racing against them over the course of time you do better and better. It’s always better for your program and hopefully one day we will be there.”

Following the regatta the entire Minnesota team jumped into Lake Natoma, something the rowers would be reluctant to do at home this time of year.

“This course is one of the most fair in the country,” said Minnesota head coach Wendy Davis. “And then y’all did a great job of providing perfect weather.”

Connors and O’Neill said they would like the Invitational to become an annual event, but it still needs to be worked out with the Sacramento State Aquatic Center.

“One of things we want to make sure is it doesn’t become bigger,” O’Neill said. “We want to keep it a fairly simple format, and small enough that it is manageable. Bigger is not always better.”

Connors said competing against great crews from all over the country was great preparation for the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships on May 2-3 at Lake Natoma.

The Hornets have one more event before the WIRA Championships. Next week they will face the UC Davis Aggies at Lake Natoma and will have the opportunity to clinch this year’s Causeway Cup. If they beat the Aggie team in the varsity eight the Hornets will clinch this years Cup.