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Daily Bruin File Photo The UCLA women's rowing team successfully completed its first NCAA season.

By Jessica Bach

DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR

jbach@media.ucla.edu

Nothing to lose – literally.

That was the reality for the UCLA women’s rowing team as it embarked this season on a schedule that often seemed to be full of uphill battles.

As a first-year NCAA intercollegiate team, the Bruins were forced to start at the painful beginning at the bottom of the pack, facing schools with long-standing programs packed with scholarship rowers.

In the face of these intimidating schools, the Bruins had to start from scratch and plant the seedlings for the future of the program.

They weren’t supposed to make an impact. At first, some coaches didn’t even include them in their race plans, thinking the Bruins would be at the back of the pack the entire race.

But that was only at first. It quickly became clear that UCLA was here to compete.

In their second meet of the season, at the Berg Cup, the Varsity came in third behind San Diego and Orange Coast. Also, both the Novice and JV raced to second places.

“In our first few races, we weren’t really sure where we would fit in,” varsity rower Kathy Kennedy said.

The progress continued with the San Diego Crew Classic, one of the biggest mainland regattas in the nation. There the Novice shined when it qualified for the Grand Finals.

“It is just really exciting,” first-year Novice rower Monica Grova said. “We wanted to prove that it was important that we were there. We weren’t expecting to win the Grand Final, but we don’t want to be taken lightly, either.”

The Bruins continued when they hosted the Miller Cup. The competition was packed with teams that had plagued UCLA such as San Diego State and Loyola Marymount. But it was this meet in which Bruins made their mark, with the Novice winning and JV coming in second, both in the Grand Finals. Also, the Varsity won the Petite Finals.

“For the first time they really believed that ‘You know what? We don’t have to be behind,’” Bruin head coach Amy Fuller said. “That’s a really exciting mark for us.”

Their season ended two weeks ago, with the Pac-10 championships in Rancho Cordova, Calif. There, the Bruins made their final statement when they had both the Novice and Varsity 4 qualify for the Grand Finals, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively. Both the Varsity 8 and the JV competed in the Petite Finals where the JV came in fourth, and the Varsity raced to a sixth-place finish.

But their results were not the important matter; it was more significant that they were there competing with the top teams in the West. Also, the Bruins ended their season at sixth in the Pac-10, in front of USC, which finished seventh. Previously, it was said UCLA had no chance of beating the Trojans.

“It really showed how far we came,” Kennedy said. “The Pac-10s showed everyone else that we can stay with the rest of the pack.”

Also in the conference championships, sophomore varsity rower Irene Condella was named to the all-Pac-10 team.

“I think that Irene has proven on and off the water what a great athlete she is,” Fuller said. “For her weight, she has the best erg score. She is a dependable person and deserves this recognition.”

Starting from the bottom and working its way up, UCLA did not have previous titles to defend nor did it have all-star rowers returning, but instead, it built a foundation to work from and began to establish itself as a threat.

From the start of the season the Bruins were not expected to win, nor were they expected to make a dent in the Pac-10 race. But with several Novice triumphs and steadily progressing Varsity and JV boats, the team proved that UCLA could no longer be dismissed.