• 2017 Covered Bridge Regatta results

LOWELL, Ore. – The Seattle Pacific women's varsity eight crew won the petite final and the novice eight placed fifth in the grand final on Saturday at the annual Covered Bridge Regatta on Dexter Lake.
 
SPU's other entry finished third in the grand finals for four-oared varsity boats.
 
"It was good racing. It was tough racing and that's why we come to do it.," first-year coach Andrew Derrick said about his young Falcons crews. "We just have to keep gaining experience and learn how to perform on any given day and learn how to hold ourselves a little bit more accountable in the middle of the race. That just comes with experience."
 
Varsity Eight
The Falcons top crew missed a spot in the grand finals by one place in morning heat races. In the afternoon they went wire-to-wire to win the petite final, completing the 2,000-meter course in 8-minutes, 3.6-seconds. Arizona State was a distant second n 8:30.92 and Sonoma State was third in 8:45.45.
 
"They had it from early on and the outcome was pretty determined by the 500-meter mark," Derrick described. "Then we weren't quite as disciplined to hold that speed as we would have liked to have been, but it's pretty understandable."
 
SPU's varsity eight is comprised of six novice competitors in their first year of collegiate competition, including freshman coxswain Jacqueline Kemp. The trio of returning rowers are Natalie Beall, Abby Kopack and Emily Monday.
 
Having to set the pace and continue rowing hard from the front without a challenge is not easy, according to Derrick.
 
"It really is difficult. We've got ways to gauge our speed, but it's asking a lot of them and it's asking something that a very mature crew would struggle with. They did a pretty good job of it.
 
"They took care of their competition in the petite final. I would have liked to seen them be a little bit more consistent through the back half of the race once they realized they had the race in hand, so that we could more favorably compare how we stack up against the grand final."
 
That petite-final victory gave SPU sixth place overall among eight-oared varsities as five boats raced in the grand final that was won in 7:24.32 by Portland. Western Washington was second (7:29.76) UC San Diego third (7:38.64), Humboldt State fourth (739.84) and Seattle University fifth (7:55.23).
 
In early racing, the Falcons registered a fourth-place time of 7:33.40 in a stacked heat. All of the NCAA Division II crews were grouped together, leaving two Division I entries and club competitors to vie for the other three grand final positions. UC San Diego and Western from SPU's heat posted superior times to the other heat victor, Portland.

Novice Eight
 

The first-year Falcons benefited from the random drawing of lane assignments, avoiding the loaded heats the other two SPU crews encountered. They capitalized by earning a spot in highly competitive novice eight grand final.
 
SPU clocked a time of 8:51.01 to finish well back of fourth-place Southern Oregon (8:05.75) and gain some open water on sixth-place Portland (8:58.46). The novice eight winner was Seattle University (7:47.74) followed by Oregon (7:59.94) and Humboldt State (8:01.95).
 
"They had the only random heat draw and so it's great that they earned a spot in that grand final. They earned some really tough competition for themselves, but they were up there," said Derrick.
 
"Portland had some breakage right before the finish line and they put themselves in position to overtake that crew and sneak that fifth-place finish in there. They did a great job and made a lot of progress."
 
The Falcons earned the grand final berth with a third-place showing in the heats. They had a time of 8:40.69.

Varsity Four
 

A fifth-place showing in the heats sent SPU into the varsity four petite final. Their preliminary time of 8:57.86 was well off the winning pace of 7:41.33 established by Western Washington.
 
The Vikings won the grand final as well gaining an open-water triumph on the strength of their time of 8:27.84.
 
The Falcons raced to a third-place result in the petite final with a time of 9:50.12. They crossed the finish line a couple boat lengths before fourth-place Arizona State (10:06.17) and well ahead of Chico State (10:37.38) and Portland State (11:06.83).
 
Seattle University won the race in 9:22.10 and Portland had a runner-up time of 9:43.33.
 
Covering the 2,000-meter distance twice within a four-hour span is taxing on a crew with half the rowing power of an eight-oared boat.
 
"It's definitely a couple extra minutes of full race-pace rowing over the course of the day," Derrick said of his varsity four unit. "I was really happy with how big and how competitive their last race was.
 
"They've been a boat that's had really up-and-down days and they saw some positive feedback for when they're taking some of their better strokes. They saw that they can be quite competitive. They kind of cemented the difference between when they're taking their good strokes, it feels a lot better and is a totally different race, than when they're not. They just have to learn how to do it more consistently."
 
Next Regatta
The SPU rowers return to action on April 29-30 at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships on Lake Natoma in Gold River, California. That event serves as the West Coast championships for collegiate crews.
 
 
NCAA ROWING
Covered Bridge Regatta
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Dexter Lake / Lowell, Oregon
(2,000 meters, only events with SPU entry listed)
 
WOMEN'S RESULTS
 
Varsity Eight
Grand final -- 1, Portland, 7:24.32; 2, Western Washington, 7:29.76; 3, UC San Diego, 7:38.64; 4, Humboldt State, 7:39.84; 5, Seattle University, 7:55.23.
 
Petite final -- 1, Seattle Pacific, 8:03.61; 2, Arizona State, 8:30.92; 3, Sonoma State, 8:45.45.
 
Heat 1 -- 1, UC San Diego, 7:00.62; 2, Western Washington, 7:02.13; 3, Humboldt State, 7:14.94; 4, Seattle Pacific, 7:33.40; 5, Sonoma State, 8:13.03.
 
Heat 2 -- 1, Portland, 7:03.53; 2, Seattle University, 7:14.84; 3, Oregon, 7:32.50; 4, Arizona State, 7:46.56.
 
       SPU varsity eight lineup:  cox–Jacqueline Kemp, stroke-Chloe Remley, 7-Amanda Larsen, 6-Natalie Beall, 5-Kaitlin Dickinson, 4-Briana Inman, 3-Abby Kopack, 2-Emily Monday, bow-Hannah Hutchinson.
 
 
Novice Eight
Grand final -- 1, Seattle University, 7:49.74; 2, Oregon, 7:59.94; 3, Humboldt State, 8:01.95; 4, Southern Oregon, 8:05.75; 5, Seattle Pacific, 8:51.01; 6, Portland, 8:58.46.
 
Petite final -- 1, Sonoma State, 8:24.92; 2, Oregon, 8:33.04; 3, Chico State, 8:36.00; 4, Southern Oregon, 9:31.13.
 
Heat 1 -- 1, Seattle University, 7:55.72; 2, Southern Oregon, 8:10.85; 3 Portland, 8:23.12; 4, Sonoma State, 8:44.92; 5, Oregon, 8:49.47.
 
Heat 2 -- 1, Humboldt State, 7:59.36; 2, Oregon, 8:01.82; 3, Seattle Pacific, 8:40.69; 4, Chico State, 8:55.08; 5, Southern Oregon, 9:33.57.
 
       SPU novice eight lineup:  cox–Paige Ortiz, stroke-Jolene Akasaki, 7-Hannah Cenusa, 6-Caroline Beresford-Wood, 5-Lakyn Coppedge, 4-Kyra Bower, 3-Linda Koster, 2-Ellie Hoffner, bow-Laura Su.
 
 
Varsity Four
Grand final -- 1, Western Washington, 8:27.84; 2, Oregon State, 8:36.65; 3, Humboldt State, 8:51.67; 4, Oregon, 9:09.72; 5, Sonoma State, 9:10.04; 6, UC San Diego, 9:20.92.
 
Petite final -- 1, Seattle University 9:22.11; 2, Portland, 9:43.33; 3, Seattle Pacific, 9:50.12; 4, Arizona State 10:06.17; 5, Chico State, 10:37.38; 6, Portland State, 11:06.83.
 
Heat 1 -- 1, Western Washington, 7:41.33; 2, Humboldt State, 8:00.71; 3, UC San Diego, 8:11.09; 4, Seattle University, 8:21.08; 5, Seattle Pacific, 8:57.86; 6, Chico State, 10:00.60; 7, Portland State, 10:10.09.
 
Heat 2 -- 1, Oregon State, 7:43.31; 2, Oregon, 8:11.75; 3, Sonoma State, 8:19.14; 4, Arizona State, 8:38.39; 5, Portland, 8:47.24; 6, Chico State, 9:12.50.
 
       SPU varsity four lineup:  cox–Kaylah Amis, stroke-Gracie Hoidal, 3-Anna Claunch, 2-Moriah Sisk, bow-Lindsey Heller.