Over the past few weeks, the USC-UCLA crosstown rivalry has taken a dramatic turn in favor of the Bruins, with the Trojans falling left and right all across the collegiate sports landscape. However, USC has one sport it can always rely on for a rivalry victory: rowing.

The No. 23 Trojans opened their season Friday morning with a come-from-behind win over UCLA, securing their sixth consecutive victory against the Bruins with an all-time record of 24-1. The two squads were tied at 16-16 after the day’s races, but USC earned the tiebreaker thanks to its win in the final race of the regatta, the first varsity eight.

“This was their first time to line up and [race] for 2,000 meters all year long, so it’s definitely something that’s really exciting for them,” Head Coach Kelsie Chaudoin said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “For it to be UCLA, their crosstown rival, makes it even more exciting.”

UCLA built up a sizable lead at the start of Friday’s competition, which the Bruins hosted at the Marina Aquatic Center in Marina del Rey. They earned guaranteed points in the third and fourth varsity eight races, which the Trojans didn’t compete in, and took home back-to-back wins in the third and second varsity four races.

However, USC started to turn the tables in the first varsity four race, led by freshman coxswain Grace Galipeau. The Trojans stormed out to an early lead within the first 500 meters; though UCLA surged late, Galipeau and company managed to hold strong for a 7:52.7 finish — roughly six seconds ahead of the Bruins — to earn USC’s first points of the day.

The second varsity eight was an even closer battle, but this time, UCLA managed to come out on top. The Bruins took a half-boat-length lead after 1,500 meters and held off the Trojans’ best efforts to finish more than four seconds ahead, setting up a winner-take-all bout in the final race.

Headed by sophomore coxswain Mia Kirkorsky, the pressure was on USC’s first varsity eight to deliver, and it didn’t disappoint: The Trojans took the lead early on and never looked back, crossing the finish line three boat lengths in front of UCLA at 5:55.9 to secure the overall victory.

“It was really a full team effort,” Chaudoin said. “We’ve been navigating some illness and injury, and we actually raced two fewer boats than UCLA, so it was really important that our boats showed up ready to go.”

Senior Julia Karten, who rowed with the winning first varsity eight team, said that starting the season with a win was a “good confidence booster” but that USC’s work was far from over.

“[Beating UCLA] is always an early-season goal — and it is great that we did that — but there’s a lot more work to be done,” Karten said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “It’s just staying hungry and humble, and focusing on what we can control as we go into the rest of the season.”

The victory also guaranteed that the Amy Fuller Kearney-Lori Guerrero Azbill Trophy would stay with the Trojans for another year. The trophy, which is given to the winner of the dual each year, was introduced in 2022 to honor Kearney — a former UCLA head coach — and Azbill — a former USC assistant coach.

The Trojans will return to competition in San Diego on March 28–29 at the San Diego Crew Classic.