College Rowing: Last surge propels Jacks past competition

MISSION BAY -- Speed thrills.

Not only did Humboldt State place first in its heat, the Jacks clocked in with the fastest time in the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park Cup bracket to earn themselves the top spot in lane one of the finals taking place Sunday morning. Humboldt State trailed for the first 1,000 meters in its race, but the team stayed true to its race plan to come from behind and finish with a 7:09.72 time.

?I was talking with Katie Harris and Molly Fisher after the race and they told me they were very proud for adhering to the race plan,? said head coach Robin Meiggs.

The team moved back into the pack in the last third of the course and had a really good push in the last 1,000 meters to sprint through the finish line past UC Santa Barbara, proving the extra work at practice Meiggs had put in place this year has paid off.

Humboldt State will face two of the teams it beat in the second heat, along with the top three teams from the first heat. Central Oklahoma finished five seconds after the Jacks, but finished first in its heat with a time of 7:14.69. Meiggs was excited to see how her squad compared to Central Oklahoma for a cross-region ranking, but will use tomorrow as more of a comparison since the long travel could have affected Central Oklahoma.

Meiggs and her squad are excited for the final race Sunday at 11:40 a.m. where they face off against Central Oklahoma, UC San Diego, Western Washington, UC Santa Barbara and Orange

Coast College. The Jacks are hungry for a first place finish and will push as hard as they can to get it.

?The team knows they have a lot of work still left to do because it's such a big race,? said Meiggs. ?They know when you focus on the race plan, it pays off in the end.?

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