SAN DIEGO - The Sacramento State women''s rowing team finished with a seventh-place finish in the second heat of the Whittier Cup at the San Diego Crew Classic Saturday morning in Mission Bay.

After driving rain and strong winds caused a four-hour delay, the Hornets'' varsity eight finished the 2,000-meter course with a time of 7:10.23, more than 10 seconds behind sixth-place Villanova. Washington won the first heat with a time of 6:26.03 while USC won the second heat in a time of 6:28.50.

Sacramento State, which qualified for the Whittier Cup for the first time in school history, recorded the slowest time of the 14 schools competing in the regatta. Eleven of the 14 boats competing in the Whittier are currently ranked in the top 30 in the country. The Hornets'' varsity eight lineup consisted of Katie Summy at bow, Alicia Weber at the two seat, Veronica Karpinski at three, Erika Bracy at four, Tammy Forbes at five, Megan Warren at six, Megan Spitze at seven, Mieke Boynton at stroke and Breanne Hart at coxswain.

Weber, who sat in the two seat in today''s race, saw her streak of 26-consecutive races at bow snapped.

Sacramento State will now compete in the Petite Final of the Whittier Cup against Washington State, San Diego State, Villanova, Stanford, Oregon State and Duke. The race will begin at 12:30 p.m.

The Grand Final will consist of Washington, Cal, Notre Dame, Texas, USC, Virginia and Clemson at 2:30 p.m.

SATURDAY''S WHITTIER CUP RESULTS