Cougar Rowing Heads to Warmer Waters for San Diego Crew Classic: No. 15 Washington State rowing hits the road for the first time this spring, traveling to Mission Bay at San Diego for the 2017 San Diego Crew Classic...racing is scheduled to begin at 7:20 a.m., both days, with the first Cougar boat leaving the starting line at 8:40 a.m., Saturday...Sunday race times will be determined by Saturday's preliminary results.

The 2017 San Diego Crew Classic: In its 44th year, the San Diego Crew Classic is one of the largest regattas in the world and is held for primarily eight-oared rowing shells...it takes place at Mission Bay on a 2,000-meter course...the course begins near the Sea World towers and finishes at Crown Point Shore...the regatta features high school junior programs, collegiate teams, master's clubs, and Olympic-level competition...there will be more than 4,000 athletes competing in over 100 races over the weekend...there are two or three opening heats for each event and the top three teams (for two-heat events) or two teams (for three-heat events) will advance to the Grand Final...for two heat events...the next three finishers advance to the Petite Final, if scheduled...for three heat events, the next two finishers advance to the Petite Final, if scheduled, and the following two finishers advance to the Third Final, if scheduled...WSU will compete in the Women's Collegiate Varsity Invitational - Jessop-Whittier Cup; the Women's Collegiate Varsity 4+ - Karen Plumleigh Cortney Cup; the Women's Collegiate 2V - Jackie Ann Stitt Hungness Memorial Trophy; and the Women's Open - Carley Copley Cup.

About the Field: The Cougars will compete against Pac-12 crews including No. 13 USC, and UCLA...other nationally-ranked opponents are No. 6 Texas and No. 12 Wisconsin...some of the field WSU will face includes: Long Beach, Loyola Marymount, Sacramento State, San Diego, San Diego State, Santa Clara, Saint Mary's, SMU, Tennessee, UC Santa Barbara, British Columbia.

Last Season at the San Diego Crew Classic: All four of the then-No. 11 Washington State crews reached the Grand Finals of their respective races...the novice eight placed second in the battle for the Laurel V. Korkolz Perpetual Trophy, with a time of 7:26.795, behind No. 9 Texas, who won at 7:10.643...the varsity eight took fifth in the race for the Jessop-Whittier Cup at 6:58.477 behind No. 2 and eventual-National Champion California (6:49.468) and three other nationally-ranked crews including No. 9 Texas, No. 13 USC and No. 14 Wisconsin....the second varsity eight fell short in its quest for the Jackie Ann Stitt Hungness Trophy, with a time of 7:17.478...No. 2 California won the race at 6:53.673...the varsity four also couldn't quite claim the Karen Plumleigh Cortney Cup, finishing at 8:29.552 which was good for sixth behind No. 2 California...in total the Golden Bears won three of the four Grand Finals that WSU competed in.

WSU Head Coach Jane LaRiviere On The Upcoming Weekend: "We're really looking forward to some potential temperatures in the 70s. For me, the best thing is we're going to measure ourselves against some Pac-12 competition. I don't really put that much into the rankings, but we're racing USC, Texas, and Wisconsin, and they are all ranked ahead of us right now. We'll just go and throw it down and see what happens. We're looking forward to it."

Cougars Ranked 15th in USRowing/CRCA Preseason Poll: WSU is ranked 15th in the nation in this week's USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Division I Coaches Poll presented by Pocock Racing Shells, released March 28... Washington State's No. 15 ranking keeps it in the nation's top-15 for a 21st-consecutive week dating back to March 25, 2015...overall, WSU is ranked in the top-20 for the 89th-consecutive week, dating back to June 11, 2008...five of the seven Pac-12's women's rowing teams are ranked in the top-20 poll: California-first, Washington-fourth, Stanford-10th, USC-13th, and WSU-15th.

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 for the Cougars: The Cougars head to Dexter Lake at Lowell, Ore. for the Oregon State Classic against Pac-12 opponents Oregon State and UCLA, Saturday, April 8.