Long Beach State women’s crews took on amazing lineups in this weekend’s Richard Berg Cup hosted by Orange Coast College. Water conditions were calm and flat at the start of the morning, finishing with a light tailwind by the early afternoon. Long Beach State Varsity 8+ placed second at 6:44.0 trailing Loyola Marymount at 6:25.0 and just ahead of Orange Coast College (6:45.0), UC San Diego (6:52.0), Chapman University (7:15.7) and UC Irvine at 7:27.7.

The Novice 8+ finished in the upper half of the pack at third (7:08.2), ahead of UC Irvine (7:19.9), Orange Coast College [B] (7:24.8), UC San Diego [B] (7:42.7), and trailing UC San Diego [A] (7:05.0), and Orange Coast College [A] (6:46.0).

The women’s crews will face off these same crews next week in San Diego, on top of others around the nation.

This just in from Men’s Novice Coach Jeffrey Vreeland:

CSULB has been invited back to Orange Coast’s Annual Newport Invitational Regatta on Saturday, April 7. The Novice Men will take on top SoCal screws from UCLA, USC, UCSD, USD, UCI, and OCC.

CSULB was removed from the regatta in the early 2000′s due to lack of entries and low participation on the team. This marks a milestone in improving Beach Crew’s performance and integrity of the team as a whole.

There’s no doubt that the month of April will be a busy one in the season. April kicks off with San Diego Crew Classic followed by the Newport Regatta, Chapman Invite Regatta, and the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Champs in Sacramento. See the calendar for more info.

By Coach Jeffrey Vreeland

The 2012 spring racing season is underway and about to get vigorous in the month of April. We take a look at an athlete who discovered Beach Crew over the fall semester as a sport that is like nothing else and has high hopes for his involvement down the road. Take a look…

The experience in my first year of Long Beach State Crew has been a rewarding one. Going into a sport that I knew little about, I was happy to learn to row from the ground up.  I’ve discovered that it’s a sport where you get what you put in on many levels.  Working on gaining physical and technical strength is challenging, but through camaraderie and mental stamina, I have learned to break through walls and push myself with others on the team through goals we never knew were attainable.  As I pushed myself to be a stronger athlete, this inevitably helped me and the team, as shown in reaching the standards we have set as a boat.  It’s not only about me, but my fellow athletes as well, as they have a huge influence on your strength through practice and on race day.  Learning to work together as a team and setting goals on solo and group levels directly correlates with success, which tightly bonds the team together.  It’s a special relationship that I have with everyone in the boat, knowing that we are all ultimately one body when we compete.  The experience that rowing allows for athletes is rich and complex, one that I am hesitant to compare to other sports because of its uniqueness. Rowing is hard, but rewarding. I look forward to what my future in the sport holds for me.

- Garrett Kennedy