WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
The No. 7 Washington State University rowing team will race at the 2015 Pac-12 Rowing Championships, Sunday, May 17 at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center on Lake Natoma at Gold River, Calif…women’s racing will begin at 9:15 a.m with the third novice eight grand final, followed by the varsity four grand final (9:45 a.m.), the second varsity eight grand final (10:15 a.m.) and the varsity eight grand final (10:45 a.m.)…the third varsity eight boats are competing for the first time at a Pac-12 Championship, replacing the novice eight boats which have raced in the past...in addition to challenging for the Pac-12 title, WSU will be competing for a bid to the NCAA Championships, which take place May 29-31, at the same location, Lake Natoma at Gold River, Calif...the Pac-12 Championships will be shown on tape delay on the Pac-12 Networks, Saturday, May 23 at 11:30 a.m...live results can be found online.
THE FIELD:
The 2015 Pac-12 Rowing Championships will include the seven conference varsity rowing programs (No. 2 Washington, No. 4 California, No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Washington State, No. 14 USC, No. 17 UCLA, and Oregon State, which is receiving 30 votes)…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...please see the sidebar of this release for more details on the scoring...WSU’s varsity four boat has the team’s highest seeding at second, while the second varsity eight and third varsity eight crews are seeded third and the varsity eight crew is seeded fourth.
WSU HEAD COACH JANE LaRIVIERE ON THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS: “It’s always about getting just a little bit better. The team has done a really good job of taking it one stroke at a time, one race at a time, and we’re going to continue to do that. We’re in a good position to extend our season if we take care of our business, and that’s what we plan to do. You can’t count any Pac-12 teams out. I expect it to be super-tight, super-fast racing.”
PAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Last season Stanford won its first conference championship in decisive fashion as the Cardinal finished with 44.5 points, 10 points ahead of Washington in second place with 35.5 points...California, the 2013 Pac-12 Champions, finished third with 32 points, followed by UCLA in fourth with 27 points...USC finished fifth with 18.5 points, just one point more than WSU with 17.5...Oregon State compiled 7 points for seventh place...the Cougars’ varsity four crew had the highest finish for WSU, placing fourth for the fourth-straight year...WSU’s second varsity eight and novice eight both finished fifth, while the varsity eight placed sixth...WSU earned its best conference team finish in 2006, stroking to second place as a team…the Cougars have finished third three times (2003, 2004, 2008)…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 seventh-ranked Cougars swept both No. 18 Oregon State and No. 17 UCLA, going on to claim their sixth-consecutive Winchell Cup, Saturday, May 2 at Dexter Lake at Lowell, Ore...WSU’s varsity eight defeated UCLA by 6 seconds and OSU by 16 seconds...the victory over the Beavers secured the return of the Crawford Plate, named for WSU rowing’s first head coach, Tammy Crawford, back to the Palouse.
COACHING STAFF:
Jane LaRiviere is in her 13th year as head coach of the WSU women’s rowing program...the Cougars have raced in nine NCAA Championships under LaRiviere...she is joined by associate head coach Josh Adam, novice coach Devon Carroll, assistant coach Corrie McGrath and coordinator of operations Karl Huhta...Adam is in his fifth year after coaching his prior two years at Indiana...Carroll is in her third year with the Cougars and first as the novice coach...McGrath is in her seventh year at WSU, after coaching stints at Clemson and Central Florida...Huhta is in his first year as coordinator of operations and third year overall, after being a volunteer coach in 2009-10.
PAC-12 HIGHLY RANKED:
WSU is currently ranked seventh in the nation in the USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Division I Poll presented by Pocock Racing Shells...Washington State’s No. 7 ranking is its highest since ranking fifth the week of April 16, 2008...WSU is ranked for the 76th-consecutive week, dating back to March 15, 2008...six of the seven Pac-12’s women’s rowing teams are ranked in the top-20 poll: Washington-second, California-fourth, Stanford-sixth, WSU-seventh, USC-14th, and UCLA-17th, while Oregon State is receieving 30 votes...two teams are receiving first-place votes as Washington and California each have two.
