The UCLA women’s rowing team is heading to Sacramento for a busy championship weekend. The Bruins kick off with the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships on Saturday before proceeding to the all-important Pac-10 Championships the following day.
Having lost their last dual meet to their USC rivals, 6-1, the UCLA rowers hope to regroup and have a better showing at this upcoming weekend’s events.
“It’s been an interesting couple of weeks since the USC duel,” UCLA coach Amy Fuller Kearney said. “We just went back to the drawing board, talked about things from a different light and focused more on the basics. You just can’t get out-pulled. If you get out-pulled, you will lose every time.”
Coming into the regular season with high expectations, the women’s rowing team has faced a rather disappointing year, full of unexpected challenges and injuries. Fuller Kearney said that summer preparations weren’t as productive as the team had initially planned, leading to a slow start to the season.
Yet despite falling short of their original vision for the season, the Bruins have kept their spirits high by feeding off of daily improvements and a collective optimistic attitude. Heading into this weekend’s competitions, Fuller Kearney is counting on the leaders of the squad to raise the bar and empower the team with a positive mindset.
The Bruins enter as the seventh seed, but Fuller Kearney insists that the Bruins are untroubled by their position as the underdogs of the race. In fact, the rowers continue to be hopeful, believing that they have a real chance to steal an upset at the Pac-10 Championships on Sunday. Fuller Kearney has full confidence that the team is ready to rise to the challenge.
“We’re just looking forward to sneak into the grand final,” Fuller Kearney said. “We’re hoping to be a spoiler and upset some people who are ahead of us. We have great student athletes on this team with a lot of potential. We would like to see us turn it around this weekend. We’re excited.”
Though the Bruins are fired up for their busy weekend, they know full well that pulling off an upset at the Pac-10 Championships will not be easy. They are expecting that every team will come ready to race.
“The Pac-10 is always strong,” Fuller Kearney said. “There is always very impressive racing to be a part of and to watch. I won’t predict what will happen because it is just too competitive.”
Yet, all things taken into account, Fuller Kearney feels the team has nothing to lose going into this weekend’s championship events.
Aware of their cutthroat competition at the Pac-10 Championships, the Bruins are just focusing on giving their best effort.
“We had hoped to be ranked higher,” Fuller Kearney said. “But we’re going to try to be strong underdogs.”