Despite high hopes and a No. 6 national ranking going into this weekend’s NCAA championships, UCLA women’s rowing wound up placing ninth, one spot worse than last season.
Regardless, coach Amy Fuller Kearney came away with positives from the weekend and tried to keep things in perspective.
“Ultimately we have to consider this weekend a success and we’re proud to be in the top 10 among these competitors,” Fuller Kearney said.
The varsity eight placed the best of any of UCLA’s boats at seventh place, followed by the second varsity eight at 11th and the varsity four at 13th.
Despite getting knocked out of contention for a top-six finish in Saturday’s semifinal race, the varsity eight rallied to win Sunday’s Petite Final.
“(The varsity eight has) battled beyond their size all year long and shown that they are greater than the sum of their parts,” said Fuller Kearney. “I feel like that’s the fastest varsity eight we’ve ever had.”
The varsity eight did have a small victory in the knowledge that the time they pulled in the Petite Final would have placed them fifth in the Grand Final if they had qualified, ahead of USC, whose varsity eight won Pac-12.
“It’s disappointing that if we had been in the other semifinal on Saturday or if we had a better race in our own semifinal that we could’ve knocked out some of the teams in the grand final but it’s satisfying to know that we can still race with the top teams,” said senior port Britta Syverson.
And through all the highs and lows of the team’s multiple races, emotions also ran high with this weekend’s regatta being the last race of the year.
“It’s been an amazing experience, these last four years so it’s bittersweet to see it end,” said senior starboard Emily McLaughlin, who didn’t compete because of injury. “But I’m glad that this year could end with a national championship competition with a top-10 finish.”