MARINA DEL REY “”mdash; The UCLA women’s rowing team swept
Loyola Marymount in the season opener on Saturday in Marina del
Rey.
With the wins, UCLA maintains possession of the Karen Hock-Hjelm
Cup for the fourth consecutive year.
UCLA featured three boats in its first competition of the year
““ the Novice Eight, Second Varsity Eight and Varsity Eight
““ and promptly won all three races.
Freshman standout Vanessa Teff, who was a member of the Junior
National Team, led the Bruins on the Varsity Eight boat in her
first year.
“Vanessa has the team’s fastest erg time and she
always has a positive attitude,” senior Liz Pallas-Jacobs
said. “She didn’t take any time adjusting to the
team.”
Bruin coach Amy Fuller Kearney, who has guided the program since
it earned Division I status five years ago, is encouraged by her
team’s strong start but remains cautiously optimistic. Once a
professional motivational speaker, Fuller Kearney took from her
former vocation to gather her rowers and remind them that the win
was only the first meet of the new season.
The rainy condition did not slow down UCLA, which also entered
two boats in the Varsity Four category even though LMU was not
represented in the event.
UCLA’s Varsity Eight was manned by Teff, Pallas-Jacobs,
Jessica Fritz, Patricia Dudziec, Elizabeth Lee, Erin Haggerty, Erin
Rice, Leah Wachtel, and Kirsten Potenza.
Co-captain Pallas-Jacobs, one of UCLA’s first
women’s scholarship athletes, competed in the stroke position
of the Varsity Eight team. She holds the position nearest the
coxswain, which gives her the responsibility of coaching the rowers
while in the water. Pallas-Jacobs revels in the responsibility that
has been bestowed upon her.
“The coach put me there because she thinks I do a good job
setting the rhythm for the race,” Pallas-Jacobs said.
UCLA will follow its opening victory when it hosts UC Irvine
next Saturday. Last year’s meet resulted in a Bruin sweep in
all events.