Gonzaga University's varsity eight (foreground) and Western's varsity eight (behind) lineup for the finals race Sunday. photo courtesy of Metta Gilbert
The Western women’s crew team, with warm weather and fast rowing, took second place this past weekend at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association [WIRA] Regatta Championships at Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif.
All three of the shells advanced to Sunday’s grand finals. The varsity eight took the silver medal, falling second to Gonzaga University, who beat them by 1.1 seconds. The second varsity eight took fifth, while the novice four placed second in the grand finals.
Western’s overall performance at the WIRA Championships was the highest in school history. Gonzaga has won the tournament two years in a row.
“Even though we lost to Gonzaga, we’re going to give them another go around in two weeks,” Western head coach John Fuchs said. “Everybody performed really well this weekend.”
One of the biggest differences the team noticed between the last few meets and this weekend was the weather.
“It was so awesome to start rowing with warm muscles,” Western senior Metta Gilbert said. “It was nice to come out to 75 and 80 degree weather, instead of 30 degrees.”
University of California, Davis beat the novice four by three boat lengths. Behind the Vikings were San Diego State, Sonoma State, Evergreen State and the University of Colorado.
“There was no way that they were going to catch California because they opened it up and held on,” Fuchs said.
Although the varsity eight suffered its first loss of the season after six straight victories, the team saw the meet as an opportunity to scout future Division I competition.
“This was a really great way to see our out-of-state competition,” junior assistant team captain Audrey Coon said.
The Vikings will head back to Lake Natoma to compete in the Pacific-10 Championships/Pacific Coast Rowing Championships May 17-18. They are hoping to earn a bid to the NCAA Division II National Championships.
“It’s nice to be heading back down to a familiar course,” Gilbert said. “We know what we have to do in the next two weeks of practice and hopefully we should be able to fine tune everything.”
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