SEATTLE, Wash. – The Western Washington University women’s rowing team returned to race action on Saturday competing in the inaugural Falcon Regatta against Central Oklahoma and host Seattle Pacific on the Lake Washington Ship Canal.
WWU finished 2nd in the Varsity 4+ race, while the Varsity 8+ and Open Four both finished 3rd. Central Oklahoma won all three races in the regatta. UCO (No. 1), WWU (No. 5) and SPU (No. 7) are all ranked in the most recent CRCA/US Rowing Division II coaches poll. WWU won the 2017 NCAA II Championships, the eighth national title in program history, while UCO was runner-up.
“I think overall it wasn’t the performance we were hoping for,” said head coach John Fuchs. “We are very thankful to SPU for putting on the regatta. They did a great job.”
Making their season debut, the Varsity 4+ finished 2nd with a time of 7:22.3 on the 2,000-meter course that started near Gas Works Park in Seattle, crossed under the Fremont Bridge, and finished near Royal Brougham Pavilion on the edge of the SPU campus. The Vikings were less than a second behind Central Oklahoma (7:21.4), while SPU was 3rd in 7:58.2.
The Varsity 8+ finished 3rd in the feature event of the day, completing the course in 6:47.3. Central Oklahoma was 1st in 6:30.3 and SPU finished 2nd in 6:42.0.
In the first race of the morning a very novice Viking crew finished in 3rd place in the open fours, completing the course in 7:55.7. Central Oklahoma led throughout the race to finish 1st in 7:41.5, edging SPU who finished 2nd in 7:42.0.
The regatta was raced in rainy conditions with a cross-tailwind of 8 mph SE.
The Vikings return to action next Saturday racing the Stanford Lightweights in Redwood City, California. The WIRA Championships will be held the following weekend (April 28-29) on Lake Natoma in Gold River, California.
