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The Seattle Pacific crew will compete this weekend (May 28-30) at the NCAA Division II Women's Rowing Championships on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif. That will be the first appearance by the entire SPU team at championship regatta.

The Falcons earned the NCAA invitation on the strength of a bronze-medal performance against a formidable field at the Dad Vail Regatta, May 7-8 in Philadelphia.

Members of the SPU crew will be contributing rowing reports to keep you updated on their journey leading up to and during the NCAA Championships. This is the second of those blog entries, from senior Eleni Johnson.


Hi, this is Eleni,

The whole team was huddled in our coach's office right at 2:00 p.m. last Tuesday (May 18) for the official announcement of the NCAA field. We all screamed and laughed when we found out we got a team bid.

Our goal as a team since last year was to get enough rowers for an eight and a four boat so we could place and stand on the podium at Nationals. Last year we placed third in the varsity eight race, against all odds, but because we only brought an eight we didn't even have a chance of getting actual medals. Therefore having a full team is awesome, and we intend to row our best and see where it places us.

Our team is still small, but I think that is one of our advantages. WE have been rowing together all year for many years and we all trust and motivate each other. The eight has had the same coxswain, Annie Mulder, for two years and she is Awesome!

We also had the privilege to have a returning coxswain to lead the four (Kristi Tamaki). So we have a lot of experience in coxswains and rowers to add to our unity as a team.

Traveling is a blast! It makes the cold, dark mornings and long practices worth it. The girls on my team are my motivation for keeping it up every day. Riding in cars for hours and hours is not as fun as flying, but major bonding and memories happen on those trips.

I always prepare to do homework in the down time- does that actually happen- almost never! Get up to 12 girls in one van and the talking and laughing never stops.

Lake Natoma is my favorite course to race on. We are excited to return to the course that we have taken gold for WIRA for two out of three years.

My whole family is road-tripping down to Sacramento to see our team race. It is such a blessing for me to see my family and other teammates' relatives come out and support us for our races. We are expecting quite the crowd of traveling family and friends to watch us race at Nationals.

Tuesday morning we found a motivational “good luck” sign made by the SPU Gymnastics team taped to the shellhouse door. It is great to know that our SPU athletic community is supporting and cheering for us back home as well.

-- Eleni