Bruin Heavyweight Crew, Coast Champ, Going to Nationals

The UCLA men’s heavyweight crew, which won its second consecutive Pacific Coast Championship on May 22 at Lake Natoma near Sacramento, will be going to its second straight national championship on June 11 in Cincinnati.

At Lake Natoma, second-year Coach Zenon Babraj’s varsity eight defeated Washington by nearly 6 seconds, going over the 2,000-meter course in 6:9.86. The second-place Huskies made it in 6:15.29.

Other shells and their finishes were: Stanford, 6:15.32; California, 6:18; UC Davis, 6:18.27, and USC, 6:44.29.

At last year’s nationals, the Bruins finished fourth, behind champion Harvard, Brown and Wisconsin, in that order.

UCLA’s freshman eight, which finished second in 6:22.32 to first-place Washington, 6:20.01, in the Pacific Coast races, will compete today through Saturday in the Intercollegiate Rowing Assn. Regatta at Syracuse, N.Y.