The Western women’s rowing team will compete for a seventh consecutive NCAA Division II National Championship May 28 to 30 at Lake Natoma, Calif. Western is ranked No. 1 nationally in the US Rowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Poll and hasn’t lost to a single Division II school this season.

But that’s not what’s nagging Oberholzer.

In last season’s championships, the performances of the Vikings’ varsity eight and varsity four were good enough for a sixth straight overall championship. But for the first time in its championship run, Western did not win the varsity eight outright. It finished four seats behind Mercyhurst College.

The Vikings finally showed that they are capable of bleeding.

“Every time we have a practice, are preparing for a race or are at a race, I think about how I felt when I heard those other teams cheering for Mercyhurst,” Oberholzer said in a phone interview from Lake Natoma.

“One of the things that has pushed me this whole year, not just the season, is thinking about when we crossed the finish line at the end of nationals last year,” Oberholzer said. “Then hearing all the other teams cheer Mercyhurst for beating us. I don’t ever want to feel like that again.”

Mercyhurst enters the championships this season directly behind Western at No. 2 in the national rankings. The Vikings’ loss in the varsity eight championships last season was one of the few moments in their championship run where they showed they aren’t exactly unbeatable.

Casey Mapes, the team captain, said they used the loss as motivation to work even harder this season.

“Once in a while you have to have something like that to rock the boat a little bit to realize you aren’t invincible,” Mapes said. “To show that all the work we do is necessary to get to the elite level that we’re at. It sucks to be a part of the crew that got that one loss, but we still have a really great record.”

No other team in any NCAA division of women’s rowing has won six straight championships, let alone seven. Oberholzer and Siri Carlson were recently named to the 2011 Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/NCAA Division II Pocock All-America women’s rowing team — two of nine Division II rowers selected.

Oberholzer and Mapes, both seniors, will win their fourth national championship in four years of collegiate rowing if Western can take the title this weekend.