March 26, 2014 HSU SID Christopher S. Myers
HSU Rowing “THE CREW”
HSU set to host annual Blue Herron Redwood Sprints Regatta
ARCATA – After a solid opening race day and encouraging training week, Humboldt State is set to host its annual Blue Herron Redwood Sprints Regatta this weekend on the Humboldt Bay waters.
The Lumberjacks will row against teams coming to the North Coast from Seattle Pacific, Mills College and Cal Maritime Academy.
The teams will have scrimmage races on Friday afternoon starting at 5 p.m. Prior to the scrimmage races, HSU will honor the Douglas Heller family by christening two new boats, one eight and one four-person, the supportive family purchased for the program at 4:30 p.m.
The Saturday competitive races will begin at 8 a.m. and continue through the final race starting at 11:30 a.m.
“We are really excited to have Seattle Pacific come this weekend as it has been seven years since the last time,” said HSU head coach Robin Meiggs. “They have a great coaching staff and their athletes are super respectful. It is a thrill for them coming all the way to Humboldt. We will also have Mills College and Cal Maritime Academy, which is also part of the CSU system.”
With this year’s addition of Seattle Pacific to the Regatta field, the home event will now be a NCAA Division II ranking competition.
The Jacks crew team comes off their first competitive ranking race two weeks ago at the Sacramento State Invitational. HSU prevailed over its DII foe UC San Diego in the Varsity Eight race, but fell short in the Varsity Four shell.
HSU stayed in the Sacramento area for its annual extended spring training work on other waters than Humboldt Bay.
“One of the things, we ran some time trails while we were there. We looked at our split times and worked on our race plan. It was good to get work done on a buoyed course,” explained Meiggs. “Being able to train in wind, it prepares you for how the racing season will be about. It was a couple days of epic training with the sun out and was one time I almost didn’t want to come back from it.”
With a quality week of spring training in the books, the Jacks rowers will look to build upon and carry it into the next few weeks.
“The pivotal point will be how we apply the training the next two weeks and how we get the momentum up again,” noted the Jacks coach. “The challenge is to direct all energy into training and academics over the last six weeks of the season.”
The HSU challenge will now begin this weekend at its home regatta to start the stretch drive of the 2014 season.
-GoJacks-