Women’s rowing season finally here, team looks to start strong

Garrett Riendeau

The Sacramento State women’s rowing team looks to start the season off strong as it opens the season and hosts the Sacramento Invitational tomorrow at Lake Natoma.

The Hornets’ first races of the season will be composed of a few familiar opponents. Division II champions from a couple years ago Humboldt State, UC San Diego, Saint Mary’s and Mills College will all be competing in the invitational, all of whom participated in last year’s invitational.

Last year, in this particular competition, Sac State won four of the seven races they raced in – varsity eight, second varsity eight, novice eight, and second novice eight. Despite their success in last year’s invitational, head coach Mike Connors said his squad still needs to be on top of its game.

“This event has gotten more competitive over the years,” Connors said. “This is an event where we will have to be really good to win.”

Gonzaga is a huge reason the Hornets will have to perform at a high level. The Bulldogs not only won the West Coast Conference last season, but they also made it to the National Championships.

“They (Gonzaga) were in the NCAA Championships last year and they have a deep crew,” Connors said. “They won their conference last year so it should be good competition for us. Seeing Gonzaga earlier in the season will be good for us.”

Connors said this will be a good opportunity for his team to race against an opponents of the same skill level, so the rowers can prepare early in the season for who they will see at conference championships in May.

Sac State will compete in seven races on Saturday – varsity eight, second varsity eight, novice eight, second novice eight, varsity four, novice four and second varsity four.

Connors said that because the team is racing at home, it gives all of the rowers on the squad, especially freshmen, a chance to race and gives each rower a chance to impress the head coach.

“That is the nice thing about racing at home, all of our athletes get a chance to race and the coaches can get a look at everybody,” Connors said. “When we go on the road, we only take so many boats, so it’s nice for all the athletes to get a chance.”

Senior captain Jessica Smith sees this weekend as an opportunity for the team to sustain momentum. Last Saturday the Hornets competed in a scrimmage and were able to keep pace against strong competition.

“The scrimmage went well,” Smith said. “We were able to hold our own and we had a closer gap as compared to last year. I definitely see improvement.”

Smith said that it is important that the team maintains composure on Saturday. She has noticed some of her teammates getting eager for the opening races.

“It’s important for us to stay calm and collective,” Smith said. “Because it’s the first race, it is easy to get excited so we need to stay focused.”

Races will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday at Lake Natoma.

Garrett Riendeau can be reached on Twitter @SH_Sports