Cougar Rowing to Close Fall Season at Head of the Lake: The Washington State University women's rowing team will compete in its final regatta of the fall season, traveling to Seattle for the Head of the Lake, one of the largest fall regattas on the West Coast, Sunday, Nov. 6 at 8 a.m.

The 2016 Head of the Lake: Lake Washington Rowing Club hosts the 37th Head of the Lake regatta...boats will compete in a unique three-mile race that takes place in both Lake Union and Lake Washington...the race starts in Lake Union, passes through the Montlake Cut, and finishes outside the Conibear Shellhouse at Lake Washington...Washington State will launch a varsity, second varsity, and third varsity eight, which will face crews from host Washington, Stanford, Oregon, Gonzaga, Seattle U, Portland, Western Washington, and the University of British Columbia...Head of the Lake is open to juniors, high school, collegiate, open, and masters crews.

Last Time at Head of the Lake: The Cougars wrapped up the 2015 fall season with three second-place finishes...the WSU varsity eight was narrowly defeated, finishing just six seconds (17:55.23) behind rival Washington...the Cougars' second and third varsity eights also finished second to Washington, finishing the three-mile course at 18:39.58 and 19:10.51, respectively.

WSU Head Coach Jane LaRiviere on Head of the Lake: "We're really excited to go to Head of the Lake and finally get to test ourselves against our peer schools. Washington and Stanford will be there, along with some other competitive schools. That's what it's all about. We're looking forward to it, and it really is fun. There's also an alumni boat entered, which will be great and we're hoping to reconnect with a lot of our former parents, alumni, and supporters. It would be lovely to see some alumni out there."

WSU Head Coach Jane LaRiviere on the Progress this Fall: "I'm very optimistic. We don't have a young crew this year. We have some great youth, but we are being driven by juniors and seniors right now, and that's a nice thing to have happen every now and again. There's lots of maturity and people with tremendous amount of experience who are bringing that experience into the boat."

Last Time on the Water: The Cougar eights and fours delivered strong performances at the Head of the Spokane...the day's first flight featured four varsity fours, and a third varsity and novice eight...the WSU varsity four 'A' (coxswain- Ellie Burg, Nicole Hare, Ivy Elling Quaintance, Paige Danielson, Jess Brougham) impressed in the flight, completing the 4,500-meter course at 15:49....that time, paired with the 16:02 finish for WSU's varsity four B (coxswain- Jenna Mangiagli, Ieva Adomaviciute, Mihaela-Teodora Berindei, Chloe Rogers, Lucie Weissova) was faster than Gonzaga's third varsity eight, which finished a second behind the Cougars' varsity four 'B' crew...in the second flight WSU launched a varsity, second varsity, and two novice eights along with a varsity four... WSU's varsity eight (coxswain- Jenna Mangiagli, Ieva Adomaviciute, Mihaela-Teodora Berindei, Nicole Hare, Lucie Weissova, Chloe Rogers, Jess Brougham, Paige Danielson, Ivy Elling Quaintance) owned the top time of the flight, finishing at 14:39, 10 seconds ahead of Gonzaga's varsity eight...the Cougar varsity four 'E' (coxswain- Hannah Welzbacker, Rosalina Torcivia, Miranda Armstrong, Hunter Jones, Sophia Rogers) raced ahead of Gonzaga's varsity four 'A', finishing the race at 17:10, 19 seconds faster than the Bulldogs.

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.

Next up for the Cougars: WSU opens its spring season at home against Gonzaga in dual competition at Wawawai Landing on the Snake River, March 25.