Miscalculations at Chapman Regatta Cause Controversy

The varsity eight race at the Chapman Regatta was so close, Long Beach State University, University of California Santa Barbara and Orange Coast College have mixed thoughts about the end result.

Photo by Stefano Balbusso

By Ariana Gastelum

Publicity Manager

Varsity Rower

Everyone can agree that the women’s varsity eight race at the Chapman Regatta on April 12 was a brutal battle all the way down the 2,000-meter course, but teams differ in opinions when it comes down to the end result.

According to Row2k.com, University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) finished first with a time of 6 minutes and 54 seconds. Orange Coast College (OCC) ended second at 6 minutes and 56.3 seconds followed by Long Beach State University (LBSU) .16 seconds later.

However, every athlete in the LBSU boat believes they finished second, before OCC and only about half a seat away from UCSB. Immediately after the results were posted, conflict arose.

According to coxswain Sarah Dresser, her seat was aligned with OCC’s 2-seat at the 250-meter mark. Though they eventually gained more seats, they never officially caught up with LBSU.

Before the last approximate 10 strokes of the race, Dresser remembers her seat aligned with UCSB’s coxswain.

“We weren’t in front of them, but we got even with them,” she said “In the end, they pulled ahead, and they crossed the finish line before us.”

UCSB raced in lane two with OCC on port side and LBSU on starboard side. A private message from UCSB’s Rowing Facebook page noted their varsity coxswain’s perspective.

“She says that [LBSU] took second over OCC and that our head coach, Mike Homes, has been in contact with other coaches about this matter as well,” it explained.

Without video footage of the race’s finish, we may never know what really happened in that race at the Chapman Regatta. However, LBSU’s women are utilizing these mixed results as fuel to correct it all at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association next weekend.

UPDATE 4-16-15 at 3:00pm

UCSB’s varsity coxswain noted to her coach:

“I was sitting on the Long Beach 6-seat at the finish. They beat OCC.  We were up on OCC by four to five seats the whole race, but I looked at [LBSU] at the finish because OCC was at least four seats behind us.”