April 4, 1998

SAN DIEGO - The No. 2-ranked Cal men's varsity eight led from start to finish in its Copley Cup heat at the San Diego Crew Classic on Mission Bay, Saturday April 4. The Bears got off the line quickly and moved out to a one-length lead over both Harvard and Penn in the first 500 meters. Cal covered the 2000-meter course in a time of 5:55, which was the fastest time of the day in the men's varsity event.

Cal will need another strong showing on Sunday, April 5, if it is to bring home its first varsity San Diego Crew Classic championship since 1982. Not only will the Bears need to best Harvard and Penn in the grand final, but also, Cal must handle the defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Washington Huskies, as well as qualifiers Yale and Temple.

Cal's JV and freshman crews also had a great deal of success in their respective heats.

In the JV event, Cal's two entries both advanced to the finals. In the first heat, Cal's second varsity eight easily out-distanced crews from Wisconsin, Harvard and Penn en route to the fastest JV time on the day. In the second heat of the JV competition, Cal's third varsity eight led Washington and Yale for nearly 1000 meters before being overtaken by both crews during the second half of the race. The third place finish by the 3V, however, was good enough to qualify the crew with for the JV grand final and indicates the depth in the program that Cal coaches Steve Gladstone and Craig Amerkhanian have created.

Amerkhanian's freshman eight had an easy go of it in their first race in the Blue and Gold. The frosh won its heat by 22 seconds and advanced to the grand final.

Racing kicks off at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning with the Cal men seeing their first action in the second freshman eight event at 9:30. Cal's first freshman eight will race at 11:00 with the men's JV to follow at 11:20 before the before varsity men close the regatta in the finals of the Copley Cup at 2:20.

San Diego Crew Classic Results:  (2000 meters on Mission Bay)

Men's Varsity                                       
Copley Cup                                      
Heat 1                        Heat 2                      
1.  Cal 5:55.55               1.  Washington  5:57.57             
2.  Harvard 5:58.54           2.  Yale    6:01.29             
3.  Penn    6:03.64           3.  Temple  6:07.35             
4.  Oregon St.  6:05.32       4.  Wisconsin   6:09.26             
5.  Stanford    6:13.79       5.  Gonzaga 6:24.19             
6.  Purdue  6:22.66           6.  UC Davis    6:44.37             
                                        
Men's JV                                        
Heat 1                        Heat 2                      
1.  Cal (A) 5:48.10           1.  Washington  5:57.12             
2.  Wisconsin   5:55.22       2.  Yale    6:00.65             
3.  Harvard 5:57.59           3.  Cal (B) 6:09.35             
4.  Penn    5:58.12           4.  Stanford    6:15.05             
5.  Oregon St.  6:19.08       5.  Orange Coast    6:19.75             
6.  UCSD    6:41.60           6.  Virginia    6:20.08             
                                        
Men's Frosh                                     
Heat 1                       Heat 2                   Heat 3      
1.  Washington    6:02.82    1.  Cal 6:03.20          1.  UC Davis    6:35.1
2.  Orange Coast  6:19.13    2.  Oregon St.  6:25.83  2.  Stanford    6:36.27
3.  Wash. St.     6:43.91    3.  UCSB    6:38.38      3.  USD 6:40.73
4.  Sac State     6:44.00    4.  UCSD    6:46.98      4.  Long Beach St.  6:49.51
5.  Santa Clara   6:50.13    5.  UCI 6:59.41          5.  Colorado    6:53.11
6.  Texas         6:57.00    6.  Iowa    7:05.77      6.  SDSU    6:55.57
7.  UCLA          6:58.11                             7.  So. Methodist   7:47.21