Irish compete against top crews at Lake Natoma

Facing top competition out west, the Notre Dame rowing team gained valuable experience this weekend at the Lake Natoma Invitational in Folsam, Calif.

Saturday marked the first day of competition for the Irish, who immediately faced off against No. 2 California, No. 3 Stanford and No. 6 Brown. While those three teams dominated the day, Irish associate head coach Marnie Stahl said the team can grow stronger from having competed against some of the best crews in the country.

“I think overall the racing this weekend was tough and good,” Stahl said. “We learned a lot from this weekend. We had some really good races and races we learned a lot from.”

The bright spot on the day came via a victory by the Irish Third Varsity Eight team over Cal’s Fourth Varsity Eight and the 3V8 from Sacramento State. Notre Dame recorded a time of 6:58.3 to finish the heat in first place, and Stahl emphasized how that performance was encouraging for the team and the program.

“I think any time a Notre Dame [boat] crosses [the finish line] number one, it makes everyone excited — it energizes the team,” Stahl said. “It shows the depth of our program. … It takes a full team. It’s a full team effort out there, even though we’re in individual boats. It shows the depth of the team and the whole team contributing to the success of the program.”

Sunday’s competition saw No. 12 USC enter the action against the Irish, who finished second behind the Trojans in all three heats. Notre Dame will look to bounce back and grow from the experience this coming weekend down in Bloomington, Ind., at the Dale England Cup.

“We look forward to racing next weekend down in Indiana,” Stahl said. “Really [aiming to] put together the good races we had this weekend with continued growth and development going in [to the competition].”