A Strong Start
Interim Head Coach Julia Gamache Recaps this years Head of the American 5k regatta
It was a day of perfect conditions, loyal supporters and fast boats at The Head of the American. The Aztecs sent four boats to the regatta on Lake Natoma last Saturday; Varsity 8, JV 8, Varsity 4 and Novice 8. Going into the event, all the crews were eager to see if our training has been paying off and to see where exactly our speed is compared to our competition. After a couple of weeks of solid speed on the water, all varsity crews were confident that at their best, they would be with the top schools, this proved to be true.
The V4 was our first race, doubling athletes from the V8, with 19 entries, our crew placed 6th, just behind Stanford, clearly a highly competitive field. The Novice event was next with a dominating 3rd place in a field of 15. The boat of pure novice finished behind two athletics funded programs; Santa Clara and University of San Diego. Our featured event was the Men’s V8s, with both our Varsity and JV in the same event in a field of 20 boats. Our Varsity 8 placed 5th, succumbing only to; Stanford, USD, Santa Barbara and Santa Clara, placing them 2nd in the “club team” field. Our JV placed 13th overall in the event but were 5th among their JV peers. The JV rounded out our theory that our team has become consistent on all levels.
Our results were not the only endearing feature of the day; the support we received from parents and friends who came out was more than we had expected. Thank
you to all who helped with food, cheering and the overwhelming Aztec apparel that dominated the crowd. A special thank you to the Stewart family for going the extra mile with pre-made sandwiches for the guys post racing.
The athletes are believing in their teammates, themselves and their training and are eager to race again to keep up momentum. We feel this year of racing has started on the right foot, we cannot wait to see what the rest of the team will do when we race the whole squad at Fall Classic. Personally, I am more than happy with the results this weekend. Though probably biased, I noticed all our boats technique stood out on the water and with good technique, we have no limitations.
Now let’s get back to work!
Go Aztecs!
-Coach Julia Gamache
Full results can be found here
Second Varsity 8 (Right to left) Brooke Williams (cox), Ross Wong (Stroke) James Baluyut, Matias Kunzman, Steven Lyons, Håkon Christoffer Jonsmyr, Matthew Stewart, Quinnton Smiley, Isaac Gonzalez (Bow)
Varsity 8 (Stern to bow) Kendall Lyng (Cox), Cameron Elliott (Stroke), Logan Clark, Brandt Watson, Marshall Kanute, Azael Castro, Joseph Matus, Ronald Trost, Thomas Carpenter (Bow)
The Varsity 4 (right to left) Cameron Elliott (Stroke), Logan Clark, Brandt Watson, Marshall Kanute, Marielle Limbo (Cox)
The Novice 8 (Stern to bow) Lauren Gardner (Cox), Ben Claiche (Stroke), Kurtis Ip, Lukas Poteracke, Joshua Lane, Philip Pentsakov, Garen Stein, Nate Bechtel, Robert Rowenhorst (Bow)
