Women’s rowing squares off against Bruins in dual


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This Saturday, the No. 10 USC women’s rowing team will face off against crosstown rival UCLA at Ballona Creek in Marina del Rey. USC has snuck into the top 10, while UCLA is ranked just slightly lower at    No. 14.

The annual head-to-head competition has been held for the past 13 years, and the Women of Troy have defeated the Bruins in each of those years.

There are three major changes to this year’s format, though. First, the race will be held in the afternoon instead of in the morning.

The second change is that each team will add an additional varsity eight boat to the two eight-man boats and the one four-person team that usually compete.

The third and final change is to the race course. This year, the race will run from the west end of Ballona Creek to the east end, as opposed to the reverse in years past.

The scoring system will remain the same, however.

A win in the varsity eight is worth three points, with the second-place varsity eight boat earning two points.

One point each is given for the third-place varsity eight boat and the winner of the varsity four race. The first team to gain four of the seven possible points is declared the winner.

Last year, USC won the meet by a score of 4-3. The Women of Troy captured the four points with wins in the varsity eight and varsity four. The Bruins’ points came off wins in the second varsity eight and the novice eight boats.

The first race of the afternoon will be the varsity four, which begins at 4:50 p.m.

The second varsity eight will begin at 5:05 p.m., and will be followed by the varsity eight at 5:20 p.m. Fifteen minutes later, the third varsity eight race will commence.

The Women of Troy are coming off a dominating performance at the prestigious Jessop-Whittier Cup at the San Diego Crew Classic. The victory was USC’s fifth consecutive at the cup.

In San Diego, USC’s varsity eight boat defeated UCLA’s varsity eight boat, among others, in the competition.

The Women of Troy opened  the season on a high note after sweeping their races at the Head of the Oklahoma meet in early October.

Later that month, USC had boats take first place in the Head of the American meet in Northern California.