By Scott Schultz
Daily Bruin Staff
Members of the UCLA crew team do more before 9 a.m. than most
people do all day. They’re eight women, churning together
like the cylinders in a V-8 engine.
“It’s like a seven-minute sprint. The boat is 230
pounds and you’re rowing for your life,” senior Delia
Lucas said. “People will pass out, cry and hurl at the end of
the races.”
On Sunday the women’s crew club team won’t be racing
in any ordinary regatta. They’ll be competing in
the Pac-10 Championships for the last time as a club team. Next
season they will be the newest officially sanctioned NCAA sport at
UCLA.
“We’ve generally done well (at the Pac-10s),”
Senior Team Captain Nell Shuttleworth said. “But it
definitely helps to be a sponsored team.”
Cal, USC and Washington are the teams favored to win the
regatta, which will be held on Lake Natomas in Sacramento. All
three teams are officially sponsored by their universities.
Sponsored teams can give out scholarships and receive better
equipment, which gives them a competitive advantage over club
teams.
This year, the Bruins will be competing in both the lightweight
eight and the open-weight eight races.
Lightweight eight teams consist of eight rowers who weigh less
than 130 pounds. Each team cannot have an average weight above 115
pounds.
“I think our lightweight eight will do great,”
Shuttleworth. “We’ve gotten better equipment and
we’ve been training really hard.”
They are hoping to finish in the Grand Finals, which includes
the top three finishers in each heat. However, they recognize that
the Pac-10 is going to be a more difficult field than they have
competed against this year.
On the morning before the Pac-10s, the Bruins will compete in
the Pacific Coast Visitor’s Regatta, which will also be held
on Lake Natomas.