Women's crew team cruises in Friday prelims, will compete for national title Sunday
The Western Washington University varsity eight and four shells rowed to easy victories in their qualifying heats Friday, advancing to Sunday's grand finals at the ninth annual NCAA Division II Women's Rowing National Championships being held on Lake Natoma at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center.
The Vikings, ranked No.1 nationally in the USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association NCAA II Poll, have won the last five national team titles.
"Well, we're in the finals, that's the goal," said Western coach John Fuchs (12th year). "Racing on Saturday would have been okay, but we really didn't want to ... They didn't make any mistakes, they rowed solid and felt good. They did everything that they were supposed to do."
Western's eight won by nearly three boat-lengths with a time of 6:44.78 over the 2,000-meter course. Barry FL was second in 6:55.07 and Philadelphia PA third in 7:02.08. The Vikings took the lead midway through the race and stretched it out from that point.
"The idea was not to even pay attention to what everybody else was doing, just row the race plan and get down the lake," Fuchs said. "It didn't surprise me that Barry went out fast. We kept our composure and went to work, nothing fancy, just good solid rowing."
Mercyhurst PA, which won the national title in 2004, took the other qualifying heat in 6:49.66. Seattle Pacific was second (6:53.71) and Florida Tech third (7:09.19). Western's four got out quickly and never looked back as it won with a clocking of 7:38.98, nearly 30 seconds better than Florida Tech (8:08.46). Philadelphia took the other heat in 7:56.35, nearly eight seconds ahead of Seattle Pacific (8:04.14).
"That was good for them," said Fuchs of his four. "They haven't had a lot of strokes together and it takes a long time to come together as a crew. It was nice for them to come off the water and say they're ready ... They had a good start, they took off fast but it wasn't out of control."
The Vikings have now won 21 of 23 races at nationals over the last six championship regattas. The only setbacks were last year when the four placed third in its qualifying heat and second in its final.
