San Diego State Sets Sights on California Cup : Crew Classic: Aztecs fastest in Saturday’s heats. In World Cup races, defending champions Laumann of Canada and Chalupa of Czechoslovakia advance.

Is the drought over in San Diego?

The San Diego State crew varsity has the co-favorite’s role in today’s California Cup final, which it last won in 1983.

The Aztecs recorded the best time in the collegiate heats on the first day of the 19th annual San Diego Crew Classic on Mission Bay and will face off against Long Beach State, the winner of Saturday’s other heat. The 49ers beat SDSU two weeks ago by about three seconds. On paper, the Aztecs trimmed that time difference Saturday.

Despite a slow start, SDSU led its heat nearly the entire 2,000 meters (1 1/4 miles), with a time of 6:10.2. UC Davis and the University of San Diego also qualified for this morning’s 8:20 final. USD had a competitive time of 6:15.23.

Long Beach, which had an equipment breakage that delayed the second heat, nonetheless won in 6:13.07, setting up today’s rematch with the Aztecs. The field also will include Santa Clara and Cal State Sacramento.

The Cal Cup essentially decides the fastest boat in the state with the exceptions of California and Stanford, which will race in today’s Copley Cup, the featured men’s collegiate race.

Long Beach Coach Mike Long said the time difference in Saturday’s heats “means nothing. There’ll be three boats within five seconds of each other (today). It’s still anyone’s race.”

Conversely, Long said, The 49ers’ victory over SDSU two weeks ago is not a barometer, either. “Just ‘cause we beat San Diego by three seconds doesn’t carry much weight,” he said. “Three seconds can be a day-to-day thing.”

SDSU and Long Beach take different attacks, so a battle of wills could emerge. The Aztecs “caught a crab” at the start Saturday, meaning one of the oars came out of the water out of control, nearly bringing the shell to a stop.

But the Aztecs still took the lead early, a position Coach Jamie Bea said they seem to opt for. “I think we prefer being out front, at least the way we’ve raced this year,” he said. “We expected to win our heat and we did. Our work isn’t done yet--we should get a tough race out of Long Beach and Sacramento State.”

Long Beach’s Long said, “We felt we had the toughest heat. In past performance we’ve been a second-half crew. We were down the first 1,000 (meters). We’re turning into a very mature crew. It takes a mature crew to hang back and attack when you’re tired. There are few crews that can do that.”

Bea, in his fifth season at SDSU, said this is the best octet he’s had, despite being relatively young, with only three seniors. The Aztec eight is Seth Kolasinki in the bow, followed by Andy O’Shea, Eric Eldridge, Todd Huth, Robert Rains, Chris Carlson, Keith Bogdon and stroke Andy Drilling. The coxswain is Monique Polizzi.

The Aztec crew averages about 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, making them bigger than Long Beach. Bea said the team is also improved since its last race with the 49ers. The Aztecs have had little practice time on the water due to ongoing contamination in Mission Bay.

“We’ve made some adjustments, I think we can get ‘em now,” Bea said. “I think we’re moving a little faster.”

In the women’s Cal Cup, Long Beach State and UC Davis won their heats, and UC Davis survived a protest by UC San Diego, which claimed interference by the winners. Davis had the best time, winning in 7:02.72. Long Beach had the next best time, 7:08.18.

Other qualifiers for today’s 8:30 final were Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara, Mills College and Sacramento State. Both SDSU and USD failed to qualify.

In Saturday’s World Cup single scull competition, defending world champion and World Cup champion Silken Laumann of Canada won her semifinal heat to advance to today’s women’s final along with Anne Marden of the U.S., Maria Brandin of Sweden, Elisabeta Lipa of Romania, Michelle Knox of the U.S. and Annelies Bredael of Belgium.

Laumann had the best qualifying time, 7:33.27, closely followed by Lipa, who won the second heat in 7:33.35.

Three-time world lightweight champion Kris Karlson of Connecticut finished fifth and failed to qualify for the final.

In the men’s semis, held in the twilight, defending champion Vaclav Chalupa of Czechoslovakia easily won the first semifinal, advancing along with Zeno Muller of Switzerland and Eric Verdonk of New Zealand, while Kajetan Broniewski of Poland, Harald Faderbauer of Germany and Kier Pearson of the U.S. advanced in the second semi. Chalupa was the only rower to break seven minutes, recording 6:56.04.

This weekend’s World Cup is the first of four regattas sponsored by FISA, the international governing body of rowing, to determine Olympic qualifiers in individual sculls. Rowers accrue points throughout the series to determine the overall champions.

Today’s World Cup finals start at 8:55 (women) and 9:45 (men).

Rowing Notes

Today’s featured races, the Whittier Cup and Copley Cup, begin at 1:40 and 2 p.m. Heats start at 7 a.m. . . . You Can’t Go Home Again Dept: The Navy Plebe crew of 1960, which nearly qualified for that year’s Olympics as a unit, rowed together for the first time in 32 years Saturday and finished third in a three-team race in the 50-and-over Masters Division. The ex-Plebes had been training independently on ergometers and didn’t row together until late last week. They were beaten by a veteran masters team from Cambridge, Mass., in 6:48. The reunion team rowed 7:12.64. . . . In the only other finals Saturday, the Cal Rowing Cub won the women’s 27-and-over in 7:15.6; the Ancient Mariners Rowing Club won the Masters 60-and-over in 7:43.2; UC Santa Barbara won the men’s collegiate novice lightweight in 6:37.7; ZLAC Rowing Club won the women’s Masters 40-and-over in 7:53.5; Fordham won a spirited men’s collegiate Visitors Cup contest in 6:16, edging Washington State by .45 of a second; and George Washington won the women’s Visitors Cup in 7:02.3. . . . On Schedule: The 44th and final team race went off to the minute Saturday. . . . T-shirt of the day: “Long Beach Crew: 1 Boat, 8 Boys and a Bitch.”