The 2025 San Diego Crew Classic will see over 4000 athletes and coaches flock to Southern California to test early season speed. The course on Mission Bay is fully buoyed over two thousand meters and is noted for particularly challenging midday crosswinds. This year’s event will host 14 entries in the Youth Men’s Quad, all who look to bring home the Joan Ward Memorial Cup.
Los Gatos Rowing Club
Coached by Cal alumnus Channing Walker, Los Gatos is one of the few programs to field competitive boats in both sweep and scull events year after year. On the sculling side, Channing coached the quad to victory at the San Diego Crew Classic last year. Two months later, that same crew would win the USRowing Youth National Championship. A strong Henley Royal Regatta campaign would be highlighted in an epic victory against Great Marlow School in The The Fawley Challenge Cup. This past fall, fourth place at Head of the Charles indicates that Los Gatos has returned in full force and is looking to go back-to-back in San Diego.
Maritime Rowing Club
Maritime Rowing Club is the lone East Coast program in this event. Based out of Norwalk, Connecticut, founder and head coach Yan Vengerovskiy has turned Maritime into a top-caliber sculling program since its inception in 1996. In 2023, Maritime reached the pinnacle, winning the men’s quad for the tenth time at Youth Nationals. In this event last year, Maritime produced a strong second-place finish. Trailing to Los Gatos by three seconds, Maritime will look to enact revenge on Mission Bay. Recent success in the quad includes a fourth-place finish at the 2024 Youth Nationals and eleventh place at the 2024 Head of The Charles. Their superb consistency suggests that Maritime will look for a win at this year’s Crew Classic.
Texas Rowing Center
Last year, Texas Rowing Center came fourth in the quad at San Diego. At Nationals, they reversed positions with Maritime, the third-place crew at Crew Classic, and managed to clinch bronze by 0.06 seconds. A notable absence from the 2024 Head of The Charles and exclusive participation in smaller, regional races leaves competitors slightly perplexed about the programme’s current speed. Nevertheless, Texas’ reputation as a strong contender will not be overlooked by anyone. Regarding the lineup, Texas will return their stroke seat, Carson Collins, and bowman, Frederick Ellis, from last year’s crew in search of the podium.
Notable Mentions
Rowing out of Sacramento, California, River City Rowing Club placed sixth in the quad at last year’s edition of the Crew Classic. They secured a solid seventh place at Head of The Charles in 2024 and will likely return three of four members of last year’s crew. Another strong program from California is Redwood Scullers. They placed seventh in this event last year and are a program known for sending athletes to various nations’ U19 selection camps. Earlier this year, Redwood headed to Victoria, British Columbia, where they raced the Shamrock Invitational. Numerous top-five performances in the single and double events bode well for the Scullers, who will take on Crew Classic this weekend.
Prediction
Los Gatos will be the crew to beat at this year’s Crew Classic. A national championship in the quad is undeniable evidence of Los Gatos’ ability to produce results. I believe Maritime will be able to repeat last year’s performance and finish close to Los Gatos as runner-up. I predict the bronze will go to Texas due to their returning athletes and strong early-season performances. Next, I predict Redwood Scullers over River City, rounding out the top five.
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