Beach Crew Buzz — May 2026
Beach Crew Spotlight
The excitement of the Beach Crew athletes around the Boathouse this spring has been a joy to witness. The men's and women's teams have had a busy stretch: the Beach Crew Ergathon, WIRA (Western Championships), seat racing for ACRA (National Championship), and the end-of-year banquet. In each and every one of these events, the athletes' accomplishments have shined through.
This newsletter highlights the team's activities and accomplishments from the past several weeks. Congratulations to the athletes and coaches for a job well done!
Thank you for reading and for your continued support of the program. Go Beach!
Beach Crew Ergathon — Goal Crushed!
On April 18th, Beach Crew held an "Ergathon" to fundraise for the club's travel, equipment, regatta entries, and more. The goal was for family, alumni, and friends of rowers all to donate $3–5+ per 500m rowed, with a total target of $30,000.
The coaches split the team into five groups with three ergs each to divide and conquer the distance. Varsity rowed 14k each, Novice rowed 12k each, and January Novice rowed 9k each. The distance was not easy, and every single person who participated gave it their all.
After three hours of work and 684,200 meters rowed, the event was a major success, raising $32,775 from 357 donors. Thank you to everyone who donated and supported the rowers and program. The Ergathon was also a reflection of the progress the team has made with recruitment and bonding. Watching everyone come together to raise money, whether by reaching out to family and friends, walking door to door to fundraise, or encouraging one another on the ergs, showed how far Beach Crew has come as a team and how it keeps growing in size and closeness.
WIRA — Western Championship Race
On the weekend of April 24th, Beach Crew sent seven of its best boats to compete at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association, the regionals (aka WIRA). Friday morning, the team drove seven hours to Sacramento to begin practicing for this highly competitive regatta. Women's Beach Crew sent a V8+ and a N4+, and the Men's Beach Crew sent a V4+, two N8+, a 2-, and a 2x.
Women's Varsity Eight
Boat: 80's Lady
Lineup: Cox – Brenda Torres, Bailey Hartman, Celeste Reynoso, Audrianna Downard, Maria Tanori, Ruby Bogonovich, Brylie Wolfe, Mia Monsour, Avril Ho
In heat one, the boat finished 6th with a 7:19.8 2k, right behind OCC's 7:17.7, and qualified for the petite finals. The team considers this a major accomplishment, never having been this close to OCC. Women's Head Coach Riley Hobbs said, “… just the comparison between Crew Classic, and now here at WIRA, we've done major improvement with the same boat.” In the petite final, the women took 5th with a 7:14.9, almost tying for third place with Lewis and Clark's 7:14.1 and OCC's 7:14.0. A personal record for the Beach Crew women. Coach Riley commented, “That was one of the most exciting races I have ever watched in my career of rowing… the fight that these girls have is insane, we've seen it all season, but we really saw it today… We're changing the narrative for the team!” OCC said, “You guys got fast,” and UCI called Beach Crew a problem. This is the future for the Beach Crew varsity women. Coach Riley couldn't be more right: a new story is being written for these girls and this team as a whole.
Varsity Men's Four
Boat: Spolyar
Lineup: Cox – Morgan Purdy, Vaughn Popp, Jacob Hunter, Daniel Gibbs, Colin Reilly
In heat one, the varsity men won first place with a 7:09, eight seconds ahead of UCD, qualifying for grand finals. “Everybody's been saying how fast they are, right? Yeah, today they proved it,” Head Coach Scott Erwin said after the race. Coxswain Morgan also mentioned that they didn't even go all out. The potential these men have is phenomenal. The four triumphed in the grand final and placed second with a 6:48, a single second behind University of Oregon's 6:47 in first. The team is beyond proud of these varsity men. Coach Scott said, “They did frickin' awesome. That's it. They rowed like they should. We can beat Oregon at ACRA. It's gonna happen.” The potential these boys have is real, and their continued growth will be a story worth watching.
Men's Novice Team — Novice 1
Boat: Graham
Lineup: Cox – Jack English, Ryan Webb, Anton Schultz, Rigo Rodriguez, Alex Wheeler, Ben Zurla, Luis Hernandez, Donovan Reilly, Ryan Boyle
In heat 1, the Novice men placed 3rd with a 6:41 time, qualifying for the grand finals. In the grand finals, they posted a personal record 2k at a 6:36. After the race, Coach Kelly Hurley reflected, “… Our vision at the very beginning of the year was to make the finals of WIRA… and we did it.” These boys are an example of Beach Crew achieving the goals and the narrative being set for the team.
Men's Novice Team — Novice 2
Boat: Boyle
Lineup: Cox – Natalia Toher, Zack Curtis, Derek Begley, Mason Hammill, Martin Alfaro, Prajwal Perala, Aidan Cantrell, Joseph Thai, Ming Kuon Li
The second Men's novice eight raced a direct final and placed third with a 7:04 2k. Each member of the boat received a third place medal.
Men's Varsity Pair
Boat: Fire and Ice
Lineup: Ben Zurla, Alex Wheeler
In heat one, Ben and Alex got 4th place with an 8:19 time and made it to the petite finals, where they placed 3rd with an 8:35. Bow Alex Wheeler passionately stated, “…and when the race went off, we rowed hard, and we rowed smooth. We went down that race course like the turtle in the tortoise and the hare… we got to the last 250 meters, and we took it away, beat ASU right out of the water.”
Men's Varsity Double
Boat: LBRA 2x
Lineup: Nicholas Zadeh, Eli Vance
Nick and Eli raced in heat 2 and placed 3rd with an 8:00, qualifying for the grand finals, where they got an 8:15.
Novice Women's Four
Boat: Bad Company
Lineup: Cox – Savannah Hudson, Nadiana Hernandez, Alex Holm, Claire Remland, Melina Uriarte
In heat one, these Novice Women placed 3rd with a 9:18, and qualified for the grand finals, where they made a personal record time of 8:53.
Beach Crew Banquet — A Night to Remember
On May 3rd, Beach Crew held its first annual Beach Crew Banquet, where the Men's and Women's teams gathered with friends, family, coaches, and alumni to celebrate and commemorate the year.
The team honored those who have graduated or are graduating in this final semester of rowing. These honored rowers included: Jacob Hunter, Mason Hammill, Zack Curtis, Mia Monsour, Riley Hobbs, Sean Painting, Alexis Geo Larios, Rigo Rodriguez, Cooper Wilhelm, Jared Barriga, Daniel Gibbs, Martin Alfaro, Nicholas Zadeh, and Colin Reilly. Beach Crew is so proud of these rowers; each one has impacted and contributed to what this team represents in many ways. Hopefully they will keep lingering around the boathouse, which will always welcome them. Those not returning will be sorely missed; the team wishes them all the best.
The team also honored Coaches Scott Erwin, Riley Hobbs, Kelly Hurley, and John O'Donnell. The coaches put in countless hours of work to make sure this team stays up and taking off. Beach Crew could not have asked for better leaders and mentors. These coaches chose MVPs for the Golden Oar Award, which was given to Jacob Hunter, Ruby Bogonovich, and Vaughn Popp.
A big thank you on behalf of Beach Crew goes out to BCA, Ladies of the 80's, and two anonymous donors for gifting a new shell to the varsity women, the “80's Lady,” which the team took and raced at WIRA.
Go Beach,
LBSU Rowing
Women's & Men's Teams
