COUGARS HEAD TO SEATTLE TO FACE TOP-RANKED WASHINGTON: Thirteenth ranked Washington State rowing heads to the Montlake Cut at Seattle to face the nation's top-ranked team and reigning NCAA Champion, Washington, Saturday, March 31 with racing scheduled to start at 9:15 a.m....results and live streaming can be found online at wsucougars.com.

THE 2018 WASHINGTON DUAL: Five different boats will race for Washington State along a two-kilometer course on the Montlake Cut; the varsity, second varsity and third varsity eights, the varsity four and the first-year rower boat, which will compete in the freshman eight event...racing is scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. with the freshman eight race, followed by the third varsity eight at 9:20 a.m., varsity four at 9:25 a.m., second varsity eight at 9:30 a.m., and wrapping up with the varsity eight scheduled for 9:40 a.m.

LAST YEAR VERSUS WASHINGTON: WSU was swept in all six races against then-No.1 Washington in dual action last spring at Wawawai Landing...in the closest race of the day, the UW varsity eight finished at 6:45.830, just over 11 seconds ahead of WSU...in the second varsity eight race, WSU clocked in with a time at 7:27.040, while UW finished the course at 7:03.490...the Huskies' varsity four completed the course at 7:47.700, with the WSU varsity four finishing at 8:28.020...the top-ranked Huskies claimed the third varsity eight race with a time at 7:13.800, with WSU completing at 7:52.120...WSU's fourth and fifth varsity eights fell in their races, finishing with times at 8:14.67 and 8:27.26, respectively.

WSU HEAD COACH JANE LARIVERE ON COMPETING IN SEATTLE: "Cougars are quite loud and there's lots of them in the Seattle area. We have some parents of our rowing alumni that always look after us after racing. They show up in full force and it's always nice to feel a lot of Cougar love when you're over on the West Side."

WSU HEAD COACH JANE LARIVIERE ON FACING PAC-12 OPPONENTS EARLY IN THE SEASON: "It's actually great, because we'll get to see them again at Pac-12 Championships. That'll have a big influence on who gets selected to go to the NCAA Championships. What's really good is that every weekend brings competitive racing, there are no gimmes in the Pac-12."

WSU HEAD COACH JANE LARIVERE ON FACING STRONG COMPETITION: "I think it's really exciting, when you consider who we raced last weekend and this weekend. In back-to-back weekends we get to test ourselves against the very best. We really don't have anything to lose, we just want to implement what we've been doing well in practice and really bring it. "

COUGARS RANKED 13TH IN USROWING/CRCA POLL: WSU is ranked 13th in the nation in this week's USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Division I Coaches Poll presented by Pocock Racing Shells, released March 28... Washington State's No. 13 ranking keeps it in the nation's top-15 for a 30th-consecutive week dating back to March 25, 2015...overall, WSU has been ranked in the top-20 for 98-consecutive weeks, dating back to June 11, 2008...five of the seven Pac-12 rowing teams are ranked in the top-20 poll, Washington-first, California-second, Stanford-10th, USC-12th, and WSU-13th…UCLA (38) and Oregon State (4) are receiving votes.

COACHING STAFF: Jane LaRiviere is in her 16th year as head coach of the WSU rowing program...as a team, the Cougars have raced in 11 NCAA Championships and five-straight under LaRiviere...she is joined by associate head coach Karl Huhta, assistant/novice coach Brandon Campbell, coordinator of operations Amy Van Buskirk, and graduate assistant Dave Kempsell...Huhta is in his fourth year with the Cougars, and first year as associate head coach…Campbell is in his third year and first as novice coach…Van Buskirk and Kempsell are each in their first year with the Cougars.

NEXT FOR THE COUGARS: The Cougars head home for their only home regatta of the spring to host Oregon State, Saturday, April 7 at Wawawai Landing.