The Lumberjacks rowing teams had a successful day at the Blue Heron Redwood Sprints Regatta in Eureka on March 24, despite rainy conditions.
The regatta was hosted at Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center. It was one of the biggest in decades, featuring teams from Pacific University, Mills College, Sacramento State University, Lewis and Clark University, Southern Oregon University, Chico State University and Cal Maritime Academy.
“We had newcomers this year. Pacific University, outside of Portland, came, and Lewis and Clark came to race Mills College for a NCAA qualifier,” head coach Robin Meiggs said. “Overall, it was really good to see crews come out. It definitely would have been nicer if the weather was a little better.”
Rough waters and strong winds created some choppy conditions, but the Jacks women’s and men’s teams performed well.
“The wind was pushing hard enough that it was moving crews literally from lanes one through five to five through 10, so definitely the courses were not straight this morning,” Meiggs said.
The Jacks women’s varsity swept its races after a strong start in the first race of the day with the WV8 ending in 9:14.61. Lewis and Clark came in second (9:45.45), followed by Southern Oregon in third (10:49.51).
Humboldt State raced two boats in the WN8 that ranked first (9:50.70) and third (10:34.92). The Jacks pulled first and second rank in WN4 with times of 7:22.60 and 7:28.34.
The men’s V8 pulled out a first place finish against Cal Maritime and Chico State in 8:40.01. The N4 from HSU placed fifth following a tough race between all competitors. Shortly after the start, Sacramento State MN4 crew “caught a crab” and flipped.
Jacks head coach Robin Meiggs has been coaching HSU rowing for 24 years now and her experience showed through her team’s performance on the water.
“I think overall we performed very well, but I think that has to do a lot with home school advantage,” Meiggs said.
