WSU Rowing Heads to Pac-12 Championships

Sunday, May 13

Gold River, CA

9:00 AM

Washington State University

Pac-12 Championships

May 10, 2018 | Rowing

Complete Release (PDF)

The 15th-ranked Cougars will face four ranked foes, including the top-two teams in the country, Sunday beginning at 9 a.m.

By: Washington State Athletics

WHAT'S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
The No. 15 Washington State University rowing team will race at the 2018 Pac-12 Rowing Championships, Sunday, May 13 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 25-27 at Nathan Benderson Park at Sarasota, Fla.....the Pac-12 Championships will be shown on tape delay on the Pac-12 Networks, Saturday, May 20 at 11 a.m...live results can be found online at regattatiming.com.

THE FIELD:
The 2018 Pac-12 Rowing Championships will include the seven conference varsity rowing programs (No. 1 Washington, No. 2 California, No. 5 Stanford, No. 12 USC, No. 15 Washington State, 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...WSU's third varsity eight boat has the team's highest seeding at fourth, while the varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four are all seeded fifth.

WSU HEAD COACH JANE LaRIVIERE ON THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS:
"The women on our team have competed at Lake Natoma many times because there have been so many regattas there, so it's almost like a home course. It's a really great course on the West Coast so it's fun to go there. We have a really nice mix of experienced seniors and freshmen and a smattering of sophomores and juniors. I've been really proud of how the senior leadership has stepped up and how the freshmen have been doing everything they can to be the best that they can. We just need to have our best race when it counts the most. We have the privilege of racing on a week to week basis, the fastest crews in the country. Cal, Washington, Stanford and USC have all proven themselves to be top-10 teams and the tide always rises. If you race fast crews, you tend to get faster. We just hope to get on their shirt tails and go as fast as we can."

PAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Last season then-No. 1 Washington snapped No. 2 California's two-year winning streak, capturing the Pac-12 title by sweeping all four events to finish with 45.5 points, for it's first title since 2003...the Golden Bears placed second in every event for 39 points, followed by then-No. 8 Stanford in third with 31.5 points...for the second-straight year, the then-14th-ranked Cougars placed fourth as they finished with 23.5 points, 7.5 points ahead of fifth-place and then-No. 15 USC with 16 points...then-No. 20 UCLA finished sixth with 14 points, followed by Oregon State rounding out the Pac-12 competitors in seventh with 11 points...WSU has finished in the top-four each of the last three seasons...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 15th-ranked Cougars swept Gonzaga, including a win in the varsity eight race to hold on to the Fawley Cup...the varsity eight captured a five-and-a-half second victory, while the second varsity eight won by 10.5 seconds, the varsity four by five seconds and the third varsity eight by six seconds over WSU's novice eight crew.

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.

PAC-12 HIGHLY RANKED:
WSU is currently ranked 15th in the nation in the USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Division I Poll presented by Pocock Racing Shells...Washington State's No. 15 ranking keeps it in the nation's top-20 for a 105th-consecutive week, dating back to June 11, 2008...five Pac-12 women's rowing teams are ranked in the top-20 poll, including three in the top-5: Washington-first, California-second, Stanford-fifth, USC-12th and WSU-15th...UCLA (15) and Oregon State (12) are both receiving votes.