SAN DIEGO CREW CLASSIC

All teams for Stanford Women traveled south for the 50th anniversary of the San Diego Crew Classic. It was a very special opportunity for the #2 Stanford Openweight Women to meet both #1 Texas but also Oxford Brookes from the UK and Rowing Canada. The Oxford Brookes program plays a strong developmental role in the UK national team system. Meeting Texas this early in the season was new since Stanford didn't send its 1V8 or 2V8 last year.

In the end, Stanford got some great race intel from Texas. While all four entries (1V8, 2V8, 3V8 and 1V4) all placed second to Texas, mostly by 2 seconds in each of the 8 races, the team was able to see firsthand Texas' race plan and prowess. In each case Texas started moderately and then pulled into the lead by the middle. However, Stanford handily beat Cal and Washington and even Oxford Brookes and Rowing Canada. This bodes well for the middle of the season as well as PAC-12s, until the rematch with Texas at the end of the season at NCAAs. The GoStanford recap is here.

The Stanford Lightweight Women also had their first race, and to get some strong competition entered an Openweight event. They placed a very solid third place to the Openweight Women of University of San Diego and MIT. The GoStanford recap is here.

Finally, we had an unexpectedly strong showing of alums in the Masters events, with people traveling from the East Coast and even Canada. Jason Stinson '90, Zander Packard '92, Greg Klingsporn '92, and Adam Kreek '07 all rowed in different events at the race and Sam Chang '05 coxed his master's boat. Zander and Greg actually raced together as a stern pair in their 4x masters boat.