WHAT'S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:  
The No. 14 Washington State University rowing team will race at the 2017 Pac-12 Rowing Championships, Sunday, May 14 at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center on Lake Natoma at Gold River, Calif…women's racing will begin at 9 a.m with the novice eight grand final, although that event will not be scored...next up is the third varsity eight grand final at 9:30 a.m., followed by the varsity four grand final (10 a.m.), the second varsity eight grand final (10:30 a.m.) and the varsity eight grand final (11 a.m.)…in addition to challenging for the Pac-12 title, WSU will be competing for a bid to the NCAA Championships, which take place May 26-28, at the same location at Mercer Lake at West Windsor, N.J....the Pac-12 Championships will be shown on tape delay on the Pac-12 Networks, Saturday, May 21 at 10:30 a.m...live results can be found online at regattatiming.com.

SCHEDULE:
9 a.m. - Women's Novice Eight
9:15 a.m. - Men's Varsity Four
9:30 a.m. - Women's Third Varsity Eight
9:45 a.m. - Men's Novice Eight
10 a.m. - Women's Varsity Four
10:15 a.m. - Men's Third Varsity Eight
10:30 a.m. - Women's Second Varsity Eight
10:45 a.m. - Men's Second Varsity Eight
11 a.m. - Women's Varsity Eight
11:15 a.m. - Men's Varsity Eight
Noon - Awards Presentation

THE FIELD: 
The 2017 Pac-12 Rowing Championships will include the seven conference varsity rowing programs (No. 1 Washington, No. 2 California, No. 8 Stanford, No. 14 Washington State, No. 15 USC, No. 20 UCLA, and Oregon State)…all events will be seven-lane races to determine the champion...each race is worth a different amount of points, as varsity eight is worth as many as 21 points for first place, second varsity eight is worth as many as 14 points for first place, varsity four is worth seven points for first place and the third varsity eight race winner earns 3.5 points...the novice eight race will not be scored...please see the sidebar of this release for more details on the scoring.

SCORING:

Varsity 8	2 Varsity 8	Varsity 4	3 Varsity 8
1st - 21	1st - 14	1st - 7	1st - 3.5
2nd - 18	2nd - 12	2nd - 6	2nd - 3
3rd - 15	3rd - 10	3rd - 5	3rd - 2.5
4th - 12	4th - 8	4th - 4	4th - 2
5th - 9	5th - 6	5th - 3	5th - 1.5
6th - 6	6th - 4	6th - 2	6th - 1
7th - 3	7th - 2	7th - 1	7th - 0.5

WSU HEAD COACH JANE LaRIVIERE ON THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS: "I think the team mindset is really good. The weather has been nice for the last three-four days, so I think preparation has been solid. We have a very mature group with a lot of experience, so I think we're going to be ready when the time comes."

PAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS: 
Last season California won its second-straight Pac-12 title, its eighth in the last nine years and 11th since 2004, sweeping the top-three events for 45 points...then-No. 6 Stanford edged out then-No. 4 Washington for second with 35 points, while the Huskies had 34.5 points...then-No. 13 WSU beat out USC by half a point as it finished fourth with 22.5 points...then-No. 20 UCLA was sixth, followed by Oregon State....WSU's fourth-place finish last season was its second-straight top-four finish at Pac-12s...WSU earned its best conference team finish in 2006, stroking to second place as a team…the Cougars have finished third four times (2003, 2004, 2008, 2015)…three Cougar crews have garnered Pac-10/12-champion honors (second varsity eight, 1995, 1996; novice eight, 2001)...the varsity eight and varsity four boats' best finishes came in 2006 when both placed second.

COUGARS' LAST OUTING:   
The 14th-ranked Cougars were swept by No. 1 Washington in the two teams' second meeting of the season, as the Huskies captured victories in the varsity eight, second varsity eight, varsity four, third varsity eight and fifth varsity eight races. 

COACHING STAFF:
Jane LaRiviere is in her 15th year as head coach of the WSU women's rowing program...as a team, the Cougars have raced in 10 NCAA Championships under LaRiviere...she is joined by associate head coach Josh Adam, assistant/novice coach Karl Huhta and assistant coach Liz England...Adam is in his seventh year after coaching his prior two years at Indiana...Huhta is in his third year with the Cougars and second as the novice coach...England is entering her first season, after rowing for LaRiviere from 2010-12.

PAC-12 HIGHLY RANKED: 
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's No. 14 ranking keeps it in the nation's top-15 for a 27th-consecutive week dating back to March 25, 2015...overall, WSU is ranked in the top-20 for the 95th-consecutive week, dating back to June 11, 2008...six Pac-12 women's rowing teams are ranked in the top-20 poll: Washington-first, California-second, Stanford-eighth, WSU-14th, USC-15th and UCLA-20th...Washington received 21 first-place votes, while California garnered four.