April 5, 1998

SAN DIEGO -- The Cal women's varsity eight rebounded from a poor showing in the heats on Saturday to win the petite final of the Whittier Cup at the San Diego Crew Classic on Mission Bay, Sunday, April 5.

The Bears got off to a good start and was one of the front-runners in the first 1000 meters of the race. Going on the offensive for the second half, Cal broke away from Stanford and moved out to a boat-length lead over second-place Washington State. Although the Cougars mounted a charge with 350 meters to go, the Bears held them off, claiming an overall seventh place in the women's varsity event.

"Although we would have rather been racing in the grand final, our win in petite final is a confidence builder," said coach Marisa Hurtado. "Our varsity had a better regatta than we did in San Diego last year. For us this is just the beginning of a long season. Our goal is to continue to improve each time we race."

Cal's JV eight, which advanced to the final after a protest, showed that it deserved the berth the officials awarded it yesterday. Racing in lane seven in less than ideal conditions, the Bear JV raced to a fifth-place finish behind Washington, Michigan, Radcliffe and Wisconsin. Finishing second among the West Coast crews, the Cal JV's result was encouraging considering that Bears had difficulty putting a competitive JV eight on the water last year.

The women's novice eight also had a good showing in its grand final. After falling to Washington by 9 seconds in Saturday's heat, Cal closed the gap to less than 5 seconds on Sunday.

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

Sunday Finals		
Whittier Cup		
Women's Varsity		
Grand Final		
1.	Washington	6:28.10
2.	Michigan	6:31.43
3.	Northeastern	6:39.90
4.	Radcliffe	6:40.12
5.	Wisconsin	6:42.84
6.	Oregon St.	6:44.44
		
Petite Final		
7.	Cal 	6:49.00
8.	Wash. St.	6:51.53
9.	Syracuse	6:59.09
10.	Stanford	6:59.20
11.	Ohio St.	7:00.03
12.	Penn	7:01.31
		
Women's JV		
Grand Final		
1.	Washington	6:55.90
2.	Michigan	7:01.74
3.	Radcliffe	7:04.28
4.	Wisconsin	7:06.64
5.	Cal	7:07.40
6.	Northeastern	7:14.25
7.	Stanford	7:26.55
		
Women's Novice		
Grand Final		
1.	Washington	6:59.90
2.	Cal	7:04.60
3.	Oregon St.	7:10.31
4.	Wash. St.	7:16.96
5.	Texas	7:23.07
6.	Mich. St.	7:24.28