April 24, 2008

Newport, Calif.--UC Irvine raced back to back this weekend sweeping the Varsity 8 events. On Saturday, April 19th, the Anteaters faced off against the Pirates in a race for home town bragging rights and possesion of the Collins Cup Trophy. Irvine shot of the line establishing an early lead that Orange Coast was unable to recover from. Irvine continued to pull away crossing the line 6 seconds before Coast bringing the Collins Cup Trophy back to Shellmaker Island after two years away. The tally since the inception of the cup in 1993 is Irvine 10, OCC 5.

On Sunday the women faced off against UCSB and Drake. The Varsity 8 and the Novice 8 claimed victory crossing the line ahead of the Gauchos and Bulldogs. The Varsity 8 from all schools race a second time one hour later and the Anteaters posted an identincal winning spread of 6 seconds for both races.

The varsity 8's line-up from coxswain to bow was Jenny Arellano, Laurel Dinwiddie, Denise French, Ashley Fee, Rachael Thomassen, Alixandra Howard, Allison Baker, Alex Bolt, and Gloria Barajas.

The next race for the Anteaters is the W.I.R.A Championships held in Sacramento on May 3rd and 4th.