Saturday marked the first day of the Lake Natoma Invitational, which features six nationally ranked teams, including No.1 UC Berkeley, No. 4 University of Southern California, No. 6 Brown, No. 7 Stanford, No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 20 University of San Diego.

The powerhouse field proved to be a bit too strong for Sacramento State as it finished last in every one of its heats in the first day of the competition. The Hornets had six boats on the water Saturday and competed in a total of 9 races.

Sacramento State’s varsity eight posted times of 6:55.0 in the morning and 7:10.4 in the afternoon. The Hornets’ second varsity eight raced to times of 7:02.0 and 7:17.8.

The Hornets’ novice eight A finished with a time of 7:40.5 while the novice B boat completed its race at 8:10.7. The varsity four posted times of 7:42.8 in the morning and 8:08.4 in the afternoon while the second varsity four finished its heat with a time of 8:00.6

Sacramento State’s novice eight A boat will compete in a petite final tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. against the University of Kansas and Cal. The varsity four (8:20 a.m.), second varsity eight (8:50 a.m.) and varsity eight (9:20 a.m.) will all race in third-level finals and will face off against the University of Oklahoma and Kansas.