LA JOLLA, Calif. – UC San Diego men's rowing interim head coach Sean McCrea has announced the Tritons' 2022 spring schedule. McCrea's team is currently scheduled to race at five events, starting with the UC Challenge Cup in Newport, California on March 5.

This year's UC Challenge Cup is a henley-style race (named after England's annual Henley Royal Regatta), in which teams will race each other one-on-one down a 1400-meter course.

"It will be a fun event, we're looking forward to the format, the format is pretty unique," McCrea said. "Instead of your traditional, line six, seven boats up and everyone have at it, this one is more of a dual race."

UC San Diego will then return home to familiar waters (and a more familiar racing format) March 26-27 for the San Diego Crew Classic, which will take place at Crown Point in Mission Bay. This year, the Tritons' top Varsity 8 boat has been invited to compete in the Copley Cup, the Crew Classic's prestigious, invite-only race for top collegiate crews.

"We're just honored to be invited," McCrea said. "We know there should be some tough competition there, so that's going to be a lot of fun."

After the Crew Classic, the Tritons head north to Oakland Estuary for Cal's Ebright Invitational on Apr. 8-9.

On May 14, the team will head north again for the penultimate race of the season, the Western Sprints Championships, held on Lake Natoma in Folsom, California. The Tritons' Varsity 8 won last year's event by nearly two seconds, and while they will hope to repeat that feat at every race this season, doing so at the Western Sprints will earn them an extra reward. 

"Really, every race has a circle around it and I think there is significance to each one," McCrea said. "For us the obvious the standouts are going to be the Western Sprints, because that race is an 'AQ' (automatic qualifier) event for us, which means if we place at a certain level, we get our bid to the IRAs and we can compete for a national championship."

If the Tritons do earn the opportunity, they will head to West Windsor, New Jersey on June 3-5 to compete at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships.

About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program has begun a new era as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have garnered prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.