Rowing down a 2,000-meter dash in 6:46.5, the women’s varsity eight rowing team clinched another victory over UC Davis and secured Sacramento State’s place as champion of the Causeway Cup for the 2008-09 season.

This marks the third time Sac State has brought home the trophy. Previously, the Hornets have held the trophy from 2004-06.

The Causeway Cup is a competition between old-time rivals Sac State and Davis that began its official start during the 2004-05 athletic year. It is a point-based competition wherein 18 sports shared by both schools fight for honor, respect and, most importantly, the bragging rights of bringing home the title.

“It definitely gets the fans more fired up about the games,” said Katherine Spiess, a Sac State junior photography major.

Every match between the schools is assigned a predetermined point value in respect to the number of times the teams play against each other, which is why football’s Causeway Classic is worth 10 points as opposed to baseball’s 1.67 points per game.

In a season filled with ups and downs, Sac State had to recover after a slow start which saw Davis claiming the first 32.5 points of the Causeway Cup. Davis trumped Sac State in men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s cross-country, volleyball and men’s golf.

But the venerable Causeway Classic saw the football team break two losing streaks and provide the rally needed for the other teams to get back into fighting form. This year’s Causeway Classic win snapped not only the six-game losing streak, which started off Sac State’s fight for the title cup, but also the eight-year losing streak football had suffered against Davis.

In short order, men’s and women’s basketball took the cue and defeated Davis in two close games for 10 points apiece in November. January saw gymnastics trumping Davis for another 1.67 points and suddenly, Sac State began the spring semester trailing a mere 0.83 points and eager to break into the lead.

But March saw both colleges trading wins and losses in baseball, gymnastics and softball. The mid-March baseball games saw the evenly-matched teams dominate each other on their respective home turfs. The Aggies won on Hornet turf 9-3 but Sac State responded the following day by going 10-1.

Davis was swept by Sac State’s men’s and women’s tennis teams, which put the Hornets in position to win the title with just one more win from either rowing or the men’s and women’s track and field teams. But rowing’s win on Saturday brought the cup back home to the Nest.

Davis had held the cup from 2006 to 2008.

There was a bit of pressure coming into the rowing event, said head coach Mike Connors, as the team had lost against Davis two years in a row.

Davis was always a competitive team, but as this season had not seen the Davis boat compete in many races, Connors said going into the meet was unpredictable.

So far this year, the Sac State varsity boat has not lost any meets and there was a giant confidence boost coming out of the Lake Natoma Invitational; the team beat out a number of top teams from across the country.

The confidence paid off when the Hornet vessel pulled out in front of the Aggies for the win.

Beating Davis was a very satisfying event for the team, as was winning the Causeway Cup.

“It was nice, an added bonus,” Connors said.

He said he enjoyed the benefit of having an increased number of spectators come out for the meet, and that because of it, things were made “a little bit more interesting” for the team.

“Anytime we can contribute to the Cup, it always feels good,” Connors said.

The rivalry between Davis and Sac State has been relatively friendly.

“When we go to their campus, they’re always nice people,” said softball assistant head coach Cara Hoyt.

Despite the fact that Davis’ softball team is not a part of the same conference as Sac State’s, she said that the teams have had a good rivalry and been good competition for each other. She also said that it’s always nice to get Causeway Cup points.

“It’s always nice to beat Davis,” she said.

Fan rivalry is also a fun affair with game spectator stands awash in a divided sea of green, blue and gold, bodies and faces masked in paint and the thunderous roars of chants, cheers and curses.

But sometimes, the friendly rivalry descends into something which can get ugly at times.

A popular green and gold T-shirt worn at Davis-Sac games has emblazoned across the chest a gold F and K with a U and a C in the middle in Aggie blue.

Davis took to wearing shirts defiantly reading “Suck State” as well. In the days leading up to this athletic year’s Causeway Cup, vandals graffitied the same slogan on Sac State sidewalks and fences around the Union.

Some of this behavior has caused some bad blood to ferment.

“I just think Davis is obsessed with hating us,” said junior music major Chelsea Gordon. “After all, they added ‘Sac State Sucks’ to their fight song.”

Davis’ fight song is its arrangement of the “Big C” used among University of California schools. Its particular arrangement includes this refrain:

“Sac State’s men will soon be routed,

By our dazzling C.

We’ll stomp ’em in the mud,

Their green will turn to blood,

In our hour of victory!”

Considering that the “Big C” was originally written in 1913 to commemorate the construction of the large concrete C on UC Berkeley’s campus, it’s unclear what the C stands for in the Davis arrangement.

Despite these untoward acts, one thing is for certain: this rivalry will renew itself again the next year and both sides look forward to fighting over the right to call themselves champions of the Causeway Cup.

Dawn Johnson can be reached at [email protected]