PRIYA COOPER / SPORTS EDITOR

This past weekend the USD women’s rowing team headed north to Sacramento for the Big 10  Invitational  regatta. The races were hosted at Lake Natoma and took place on April 18-19. 

Toreros at San Diego Crew Classic on Mission Bay. Photo courtesy of @usdwrowing/Instagram

The Big 10 Conference is a collegiate athletic organization. It is the oldest NCAA Division 1 conference and was originally  composed of ten universities where it derived its namesake. Later on in 2024, the conference expanded to include 18 institutions and two affiliate colleges. Majority of Big 10 member institutions are public, major research universities with strong academic reputations. Big 10 Invitational meets are collegiate competitions where other prominent universities with impressive athletics are invited to compete with these highly ranked schools. 

USD sophomore Aurora MacDonald discussed what it meant to be exposed to this type of competition. 

“I would say that his invitational was a great opportunity  for our team to race some of the fastest teams in the country,” MacDonald said. “The Big 10 conference consistently puts out the fastest teams in the U.S., so to have the opportunity to go up against these teams was truly remarkable for our program. To be able to line up with these teams and keep up with them, chipping away at any margins made me so proud of our team and excited for not only this year but also excited to see where we can continue to gain speed over these next couple years.”

On the first day of racing, San Diego placed fifth in most of their races, including the 2V4, 1V4, 2V8, 3V4 and 2V8 events, with times ranging from about 7:02 minutes to 8:14 minutes. Their strongest finish was 4th place in the 1V8 race with a time of 6:39.187 minutes. 

USD    senior  Everett        Melstrand shared her   views  on  the weekend.

“It  was  really   awesome       racing against such large programs this weekend and being in the mix with fast teams,” Melstrand said.

“The Big 10 invite was a great opportunity for us as a team to show what we’ve been working on this whole season and it was really exciting to show how USD has gained some speed over the past few weeks.”

In rowing, those races refer to the type of  boat and which level of crew is racing. V8 or V4 means a Varsity boat, and the number  means  how  many   rowers are in it. 2V or 3V means the  second varsity or third varsity boat, which are still competitive crews, but not the top lineup. So for example, “2V8” is the second-best 8-person boat, and 1V4 is the top 4-person boat. 

USD sophomore Hava Appleyard shared her thoughts and we were able to compete with other Big 10 schools. 

“This was by far the biggest regatta we’ve raced at, with 19 total teams,” Appleyard said. “It was  a  really  fun  experience to sit at the start  line  and race next to the  top programs in the NCAA. It also was the first time this season we’ve seen some of our closest conference competitors, so now we have a clear vision of what we need to build on for the next 3 weeks when we see them again for a title.”

This past month USD also competed in the San Diego City Championships. San Diego women’s rowing dominated, taking first in all five races and securing the overall team championship.

MacDonald also shared how her and her team prepared for the Big 10 invite as well as other championships upcoming this season. 

“I  think  in any sport  training  or racing against a team that is faster than you pushes you to be a better athlete,” MacDonald said. “This race gave us a lot of information about where we stand in relation to our in conference competition, and where we still have speed to gain in these last couple of weeks before WCC. In addition with the Big 10 invitational being hosted at the same course as our WCC championship it was an awesome opportunity to truly get into that WCC mindset with this final training block we are heading into.” 

MacDonald also discussed  methods the team  has  used throughout the season to get ready   for competitions  against  other notable universities. 

“To prepare for Big 10s we just finished a pretty intense training block during spring camp, over spring break,” MacDonald said. “The team stayed in San Diego and was able to row twice a day on a beautiful mission bay and really dial in our technique and get in a lot of meters out on the water.” 

USD sophomore Ruby Church talked about what this means for the future, 

“It was super exciting to get a preview of what our conference championships  will  bring,  as we’ll be  back  on the same  course in a  few  weeks, and  re-racing  some of this weekend’s competition for WCC medals,” Church said. 

Looking ahead the Toreros have two more regular season competitions before moving on to the West Coast Conference Champions and NCAA National Championships which are both scheduled for late May.

Women’s rowing after winning at San Diego City Championship. Photo courtesy of @usdwrowing/Instagram