Aztecs begin their season at San Diego Fall Classic

The San Diego State Men’s Crew took to their home waters on Sunday, November 11th for the first official race of the 2019-2020 campaign; the San Diego Fall Classic. Sunday couldn’t have been a better day to row on Mission Bay as the water was (mostly) flat and the temperature was a comfortable 70* and sunny all day. With a collection of recent (and some not so recent) alumni on hand to watch the Aztec rowers take to the water, the first race under Head Coach Craig Doan got the year started with exciting signs of the potential of this young squad.

In what proved to be an incredibly deep field, the SDSU Men’s Varsity 8+ (C: Sophie Samii, 8: Keyen Stanfield, 7: Sam Gabel, 6: Tristan Whitaker, 5: Reider Martinsen, 4: Jonathan Hinich, 3: Brian Cheung, 2: Sawyer Lowe, 1: Alex Ortiz) took 12th out of 21 entries with a time 16:22. Only returning 2 rowers from last year’s Varsity 8, the Aztecs showed they’ll be competitors as the year progresses despite their relative youth. 

The Novice 8+ (C: Grace Clark, 8: Leonardo Cazares, 7: Robert Knowles, 6: Michael Kemper, 5: Rosario Ebert, 4: Jacob Howick, 3: Tanner Harvey, 2: Mert Beyazyilidirim 1: Brett MacHugh) continued the trend of the last few years with a fast 4th place finish out of 10 entries. They came across the line in 17:58. A lineup made of 9 walk-ons in their first ever race, this novice crew displayed remarkable composure and great rhythm in their first chance to showcase what they’ve learned over the last 9 weeks. 

Two Varsity 4’s were entered into the Men’s Open 4+ event with the (B) entry coming in 11th with a time of 18:44 while the (A) entry finished in 14th with a time of 19:33.

  1. C: Sophie Samii 4: Keyen Stanfield, 3: Alex Ortiz, 2: Sawyer Lowe, 1: Shane Siegel
  2. C: Abby Declines 4: Tristan Whitaker, 3: Sam Gabel, 2: Jonathan Hinich, 1: Reider Martinsen

The SDSU entry in the Men’s Novice/Frosh 4+ event finished in 6th with a time of 23:32.

  1. C: Grace Clark, 4: Jacob Howick, 3: George Patterson, 2: Ashvin Liyanagoda, 1: Tanner Harvey

We’d like to give a special shoutout to Susan Gill for working tirelessly to cook healthy and incredibly delicious food for the team. It means so much to the athletes to have that kind of support and this weekend wouldn’t have been the same without your generosity of time, spirit, and cooking talent 🙂 We’d also like to say thank you to the Cheung family and the Lowe family for their continued support and generosity in bringing food and drinks for the rowers, as well.

Parents, if you’re looking for a way to help support your son or daughter during their time on the team look out for information on the development of the SDSU Men’s Crew Booster Club coming your way soon.

All photo credit belongs to super-alum Andy Olson. Just putting on one of his many hats for this regatta, we can’t thank him enough for his unbelievable support.

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