Cougar Rowing Participates in Clemson Invite: No. 14 Washington State rowing hits the road to compete in its third Clemson Invite Saturday, April 16 and Sunday, April 17, at Lake Hartwell.
The 2015 Clemson Invitational: At the fourth-annual Clemson Invite, crews will compete in pre-assigned heats, over a 2,000-meter course at Lake Hartwell....20 teams will compete and the course can accommodate as many as seven teams in each heat... the Cougars' first race is scheduled to begin Saturday at 5:46 a.m PT/8:46 a.m. ET…the Cougar varsity eight, second varsity eight, varsity four, and third varsity eight boats will all compete in three races over the weekend…the races will take place during the Saturday morning session, the Saturday afternoon session and the Sunday morning session…Washington State will face No. 8 Texas for the second time this season...the Cougars will also battle other ranked crews including No. 10 Michigan, No. 13 Indiana, No. 17 Harvard, No. 19 Syracuse, No. 20 Louisville, and last year's National Champion, No. 4 Ohio State...three of the Cougars' opponents are receiving votes, as Pennsylvania and San Diego are close to cracking the USRowing/CRCA top-20 poll...WSU will also race Tennessee, Central Florida, Clemson, Cornell, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Oregon State, and Columbia...official results will be posted on twitter at @ClemsonRowing as they become available...a live stream video of the event will also be available closer to Saturday's race...the link will be posted at wsucougars.com.
Last Season at the Clemson Invitational: Last season, then-No. 10 WSU traveled to the Clemson Invite for the second time and won each of its heats during the Saturday morning session...Washington State's varsity eight crossed the finish line at 6:30.0, and Texas was right behind at 6:31.1...the second varsity eight finished the 2,000-meter course in 6:44.5, just one half of a second ahead of the Longhorns, while then-No. 18 Oregon State finished third at 6:51.4…WSU's varsity four crew crossed the finish line in 7:29.5 and Texas finished in 7:31.0, with just a second and a half separating the crews, while the third-place crew, then-No. 20 Minnesota, finished nearly eight seconds back of WSU at 7:37.1…the third varsity eight took first with a time of 6:59.0, ahead of Louisville (7:07.8) and Clemson (7:17.4)…WSU raced closely with then-No. 1 Ohio State during the second session on Saturday…in the final session, the varsity eight had the closest race finishing second with a time of 6:29.6, just one second behind then-No. 4 Virginia…WSU's second varsity eight took second with a time of 6:40.0, five seconds back of Virginia at 6:35.1…the varsity four crossed the line in 7:20.6, only seven seconds behind Virginia (7:13.1)…the Cougar third varsity eight settled into third place with a time of 6:55.1, behind Virginia and then-No. 15 Harvard.
WSU Head Coach Jane LaRiviere On The Clemson Invite: “We're really excited and looking forward to heading down to Clemson. Our ultimate goal is to be at the NCAA Championships at the end of May, and we get to see a lot of top, quality, teams and seven-boat races. Other than a little bit of a challenge to get there, there are absolutely no draw backs to competing in Clemson this weekend. I don't think there's anything easy about this, but that's not why we row. With a three-race weekend, it's got to be internal and it's got to be about improving small things each time you go out. We can't speed anybody up, or slow anybody down, but we can look out for ourselves.”
Cougars Ranked 14th in USRowing/CRCA Poll: WSU is currently ranked 14th in the nation in the USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Division I Poll presented by Pocock Racing Shells...Washington State checks in at No. 14 after coming in at ninth in the preseason poll...WSU is ranked for the 83rd-consecutive week, dating back to March 11, 2008...five Pac-12 women's rowing teams are ranked in the top-20 poll: California-second, Washington-sixth, Stanford-seventh, USC-11th, and WSU-14th...California received two first-place votes.
Coaching Staff: Jane LaRiviere is in her 14th year as head coach of the WSU women's rowing program...LaRiviere led the Cougars to their 10th NCAA Championship appearance in program history last season and fifth in six years...she is joined by associate head coach Josh Adam, assistant/novice coach Karl Huhta, coordinator of operations Sam Hoeper and graduate assistant Brandon Campbell...Adam is in his sixth year after coaching his prior two years at Indiana...Huhta is in his second year at WSU and fourth year overall, he spent last season as the coordinator of operations after being a volunteer coach in 2009-10…Hoeper enters her first season as the coordinator of operations after rowing at Washington State from 2010-13…Campbell enters his first season as a graduate assistant after graduating from Brock University in 2015…the coaching staff was named the CRCA West Regional Staff of the Year in 2015.
Next for the Cougars: The Cougars have next week off before hosting Oregon State, Saturday, April 30, at Wawawai Landing...it will mark Washington State's final race before the Pac-12 Championships.