2007 Pacific Coast Rowing Championship Preview

A bit overshadowed by the huge East Coast regattas this weekend, the PCRCs take place in Sacramento. In the light eight, LMU takes on Stanford. (The LMU release also says that Cal will be in the race, but they aren't listed on the heat sheet.) Stanford has owned LMU recently, but the Lions are starting to come into their own. I don't think they're quite up to beating the number 3 crew in the nation, but the race will give them a good feel for where they stand heading to IRAs. For Stanford the race will serve to give them some racing action against a worthy opponent. The Cardinal will have to guard against overconfidence because I suspect that LMU will narrow past margins.

There's a five boat field in the four, consisting of Cal, UCSD, Stanford, Humboldt State, and the University of the Pacific. Stanford looks like the fastest of this group, having previously defeated Cal and Humboldt State. UCSD previously raced LBS, finishing 16 seconds back. This looks like Stanford's race to lose.

LMU lightweight Jill Austin is also racing in the open single, a little less than three hours before the eights. Austin sculled quite a bit over the summer and I wouldn't be surprised to see her pull off a win here.