The No. 3-ranked UCLA Varsity 8 delivered a dominant performance over USC on Saturday, strengthening the Bruins' hold on the Hillen Cup. Racing on their home waters in Ballona Creek under stiff headwind conditions, the Bruins captured victories in both the Varsity 8 and Novice 8 events.

The No. 6-ranked Novice 8 set the tone for the day for the Bruins as both UCLA entries outpaced USC. The First Novice 8 earned their first shirts in emphatic fashion, finishing over 27 seconds ahead of the Trojans.

Coach Weston Cole observed, "The novices enjoyed their final tune up racing before the WIRA Championships at the end of this month. Both boats raced well and the Second Novice raced with maturity to overcome an early open water deficit and beat USC's First Novice." He also acknowledged, "We are very aware of the work still ahead of us and are looking forward to the final push for their novice campaign."

The Varsity 8 also made a statement, crossing the line nearly 13 seconds ahead of USC's top crew. UCLA's depth was on full display, with the Second Varsity 8 posting a strong time and finishing close behind the Trojans' top boat.

This sweep underscores UCLA's continued strength in the Hillen Cup series and further solidifies the Bruins' position as one of the top club crews in the country. 
Head Coach Marcel Stiffey was pleased with the performance and shared, "I was proud of our guys for putting together a solid race against USC. We've trained really hard these past 2 weeks and put a lot of focus on being more disciplined with our performances on the water. There's still a lot of progress to be made but this was a great first step as we close out these next 2 weeks ahead of WIRA."

Team Captain Toby Gajar savored the experience and looked ahead. "It was awesome to have a race on our home course in Marina del Rey. I'm happy with our rowing in this race, and looking forward to finding more speed before WIRA."

UCLA now enters a training cycle to prepare to defend its Varsity 8 title and earn the overall team trophy April 26-27, at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championship on Lake Natoma, CA.

Complete results: row2k.com

Lineups:
V8+
C: Madeline Dufour
S: Max Ryan 
Nick Ryan
Toby Gajar
Gage Saari
Ian Kenneally
Zach Cowger
Dante Ray
B: Matthew Atwell

2V8+
C: Ava Dufour
S: Ronen Rabinowitz
Dillon Murphy
Wyatt Deverell
Christopher Root
Zee Lake
Jack Miller
Jacob Faulkner
B: Andrew Josephbek

N8+
C: Alex McEttrick
S: Cullen Cox
Hayden Santos
Christian Bentinck
Sumaer Dhalla
Peter Shores
Jagger Winkler
Reid Krebs
B: Colin McGhee

2N8+
C: Malaika Patel
S: Zev Meyers
Ian Williams
Jalil Brooks
Oeiskie Louis-Cleveland
Corey Patton
Elijah Lee
Aiden Johnson
B: Emmitt Grossbard