The Falcon   |   Volume 81, Issue 26

Published 6/02/10   |   Log In

Crew team races to school history

Crew practices in the canal by SPU. This year's team brought home Seattle Pacific's first crew medal.
Photo credit: Falcon Archives.

Falcons earn silver medal at nationals

By DAVID TRISTANO, Sports Editor

Published: June 2, 2010

For the first time in Seattle Pacific's 37-year crew history, the team brought back a trophy for its performance at nationals over the weekend.

The Falcons earned a second place showing with 11 team points in the Division II team standings at the Women's Rowing Championships on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif. Meanwhile, Western Washington University earned first place with 20 points, Philadelphia University finished third with 10 points and Florida Institute of Technology came in fourth with nine points.

"It was more than getting a trophy, we were excited to make SPU history," sophomore coxswain Annie Mulder said. "SPU has never placed at nationals. We were making history, and being on the medal stand was an added bonus."

The Falcons went to nationals last year, but as an at-large team, they could not receive a trophy because they had only one boat represented. To receive a trophy, teams need to have a varsity eight boat and a varsity four boat. This year the Falcons had both.

Still, three months ago, SPU's dreams of nationals were threatened.

By order of the NCAA, each competing team at nationals needs to have a minimum of 12 rowers on the roster. The Falcons had only 11. But this soon changed.

Sophomore Mackenzie Oscar and freshman Sarah Lanter joined the crew team in February, which made the squad eligible for nationals.

"Both rowed in high school but didn't think they were good enough to row in college," Mulder said. "Our program is good enough that we can take people who have no experience and make them national champions. (It) says a lot about our coach and program."

Last Friday at nationals the women's varsity eight and four boat made a splash in the heats, resulting in both boats rowing to a second place finish. The varsity eight boat rowed a time of 6 minutes, 53:71 seconds. The varsity four boat finished with a time of 8:04.14. The winners of both heats, Mercyhurst College and Western Washington, did not have to compete in Saturday's repechage race.

Saturday's race featured yet another late comeback from the varsity eight boat. Similar to the Dad Vail Regatta earlier this month, the eight boat covered water fast, speeding past two boats to win Saturday's race.

"We typically have a very disciplined race plan," Mulder said. "We don't go at full throttle from the start. We're very deliberate. At 1,000 meters, we pick it up and in the sprint (final 250 meters), we let everything go."

During the sprint, the team felt as if they had a lot of extra pent up energy, Mulder said.

Barry University flew to an early advantage and maintained a solid lead as they passed the 1,000-meter buoy. Philadelphia University was in second, six seats ahead of SPU.

But after the midway mark in the race, the Falcons erupted with a final charge that erased the six-seat deficit and propelled them into second place. Barry led by one length ahead of SPU with 500 meters as the Falcons held onto a moderate lead over Philadelphia.

In the final 150 meters, the Falcons steamed ahead of Barry to win the race by four seats. SPU dismantled Barry's early lead and covered the final quarter of the 2,000-meter race more than five seconds faster than them.

Seattle Pacific clocked a time of 6:54.63 and Barry finished in 6:56.20. Meanwhile, Philadelphia (7:02.59) and Florida (7:09.74) finished third and fourth.

By winning the repechage race on Saturday, the Falcons were guaranteed to finish no lower than third place in the final standings.

Although the varsity eight boat placed fourth in Sunday's race, Seattle Pacific still received a second place silver medal and trophy due to the point system, which takes into account the entire weekend.

Senior rower Katie Degner competed in her last regatta for SPU.

"These past seasons with the crew have taught me the meaning of team work, cooperation, strength, dedication and faith," Degner said. "I guess it's not as bitter as one might think, because I know I will always feel a part of SPU crew."

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