• VIDEO: SIMONE  HERZBERG    |    • HEAT SHEETS

SATURDAY-SUNDAY, APRIL 28-29
WIRA Championships
Lake Natoma / Gold River, California / 8:00 a.m.
 
•Webcast:  https://livestream.com/row/events/7919033
•Results:  https://herenow.com/results/#/races/20458/results
 
Three Seattle Pacific women's crews travel to Gold River, Calif. this weekend to compete at the two-day Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships. The regatta takes place Saturday and Sunday, April 28 and 29 on Lake Natoma just east of Sacramento.
 
Racing begins at 8 a.m. both days on the 2,000-meter course the finishes at the Sacramento State Aquatics Center.
 
WHAT'S WIRA?
The Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) is a western regional organization with membership comprised of 34 rowing programs at all division levels, and representing colleges and universities in five western states. WIRA includes nearly every rowing program in the West outside of the Pac-12 Conference.


 
THE FALCONS FLEET
All three Falcons crews have Saturday heat races that determine their placing in various finals. The grand finals are all slated for Sunday, the same day the varsity eight third and petite finals will be contested.
 
The novice eight petite final takes place Saturday afternoon while the varsity fours will conduct third and petite finals on the opening day.
 
Varsity Eight
The Falcons top crew rows at 8:50 a.m. in the last of two heats, vying for a Sunday grand finals berth with a top-three finish. They will row in Lane 1, alongside Western Washington. Puget Sound is in Lane 3, inside of Humboldt State, UC Davis, Southern Oregon and Oregon. The third- and fourth-place crews move into Sunday's petite final and the rest to the third final.
 
The first heat of the varsity eight competition for Division II, III and club crews features top-ranked Central Oklahoma and No. 4 UC San Diego. Positive results for the Falcons in their two races this weekend will go a long way in determining if they can claim an at-large varsity eight invitation to the NCAA Championships.
 
The SPU varsity eight features five members of last season's crew at WIRA, including sophomore coxswain Jacqueline Kemp. The four veteran rowers are Chloe Remley, Kaitlin Dickinson, Amanda Larsen and Natalie Beall. They are joined by Gillian Edgar, Suzanne Stafford, Megan Chalfant and Samantha Kimmel.

 
Novice Eight
SPU's first-year rowers make their maiden voyage this season in an eight-oared shell. They were scheduled to compete on April 7, but the Covered Bridge Regatta in Lowell, Oregon was canceled due to inclement weather.
 
The Falcons line up in Lane 2, between Humboldt State on the inside and Orange Coast on the outside. Chico State rows out of Lane 4 flanked by Sonoma State, Oregon and a Washington State club crew.
 
The other heat has UC San Diego and four NCAA Division I crews, including Seattle University.
 
The first three boats across the line earn berths into Sunday's grand final. The rest advance to the petite final that will be contested Saturday afternoon.
 
Steering and barking commands for the SPU novices is freshman coxswain Cecilia Krause while Alex Archambault serves as the stroke. Also pulling oars are Haley Thompson, Madison Simmons, Jenafer Johanson, Hannah Todd, Kali Barlow, Katy Graham and Talia Ferguson.
 
Varsity Four
The varsity four boat underwent two changes since the last regatta as senior Simone Herzberg serves in the coxswain role while Laure Su moves into the No. 2 seat. The crew is stroked by Gracie Hoidal with Hannah Hutchinson occupying the No. 3 seat and Brooklyn Liberato in the bow.
 
The varsity four event has a large field of 19 crews broken into three heats. SPU is in the second heat, lining up in Lane 3 between Puget Sound (2) and UC Irvine (4). Also in that heat are Humboldt State (1), Sonoma State (5) and Oregon (6).
 
The top-two finishers advance to Sunday's grand final, the third and fourth placers reach the petite final Saturday afternoon and the remaining crews row in the third final.
 
2017 WIRA RECAP
Double-duty for a quartet of Seattle Pacific women's rowers resulted in a pair of runner-up results. The Falcons varsity eight crew raced to a second-place petite final finish early Sunday morning and half of them returned at noon to register a silver-medal performance in the novice four grand final on April 30, 2017 at WIRA Championships on Lake Natoma.
 
SPU's top boat overcame a sluggish start and overtook nearly the entire varsity eight field en route to a speedy second-place time of 6-minutes, 50.35-seconds. UC Davis had a winning time of 6:45.77 to finish with a sliver of open water ahead of SPU. Puget Sound was third (6:52.92), five seats back of the Falcons, followed by Orange Coast (6:55.74), UC Irvine (7:03.27) and Mills (7:03.80).
 
The Falcons varsity eight boat crossed the finish line in under seven minutes for the first time, improving upon the time of 7:02.53 in Saturday's third-place heat showing.
 
Four of the first-year rowers, along with coxswain Jacqueline Kemp, exchanged their eight-oared boat for a smaller shell and competed in the novice four grand final less than four hours later. They clocked a time of 7:32.01 to finish three seats behind Western Washington (7:30.99) and ahead of Loyola Marymount, Oregon, Stanford and Seattle University.
 
In Saturday's action, SPU's second varsity eight won the petite final in 8:03.84 after placing fourth in its morning heat (7:54.26). The varsity four was fifth in both the heat (8:11.26) and the third final (8:32.06).
 
ROWERS RANKED
Seattle Pacific's rowing team is ranked No. 7 nationally in the April 25 Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) poll conducted by USRowing and presented by Pocock Racing Shells. The poll projects the quality of each team's combined varsity eight and varsity four crews as those are the two that factor into NCAA Championships qualification.
 
The West Region is well represented in the current poll with Central Oklahoma topping the rankings that include No. 4 UC San Diego, No. 5 Western Washington and No. 6 Humboldt State along with the seventh-ranked Falcons.
 
SPU is in pursuit of its first NCAA Rowing Championships appearance since 2011.
 
CRCA Rankings (April 25)
1, Central Oklahoma
2, Barry
3, Florida Tech
4, UC San Diego
5, Western Washington
6, Humboldt State
7, Seattle Pacific
8, Jefferson
 
FALCON FAST FACTS
The Falcons roster includes 28 student-athletes, forming the largest women's rowing team at SPU since 1998 … Eleven of those 28 are returnees and 17 are novices. Most of those are true novices who had no prior rowing experience before joining the SPU squad … The Falcons hail from eight different states with 16 of them calling Washington their home. Oregon is next with four and three are from California. One student-athlete comes from each of Connecticut, Idaho, Minnesota, New Mexico and Virginia.
 
COACH DERRICK
Former University of Washington standout Andrew Derrick is in his second year as the women's rowing coach at Seattle Pacific. He assumed the helm of the program in October 2016, returning to Seattle where he was a four-year UW letterman and helped the freshman crew to the 2001 national championship. Derrick rowed in the bow seat for the Huskies' national runner-up varsity eight boats in 2003 and 2004.
 
A 2004 graduate with a bachelor's degree in history, Derrick remained at UW to earn his master's in intercollegiate athletic leadership in 2008. He was named a to the All-Pac-10 Team as well as earning all-conference academic honors three years in a row.
 
Derrick, 35, came to SPU after a five-year stint as the head coach at Central Oklahoma. The former UCO assistant was promoted to head coach in 2011 and directed the team to the NCAA Championship Regatta in each of his five seasons. The Bronchos were national team runners-up in 2016 after placing third in 2015. Their varsity eight and varsity four crews each won silver medals at the 2016 NCAA championships.
 
LAST RACES
Falcon Regatta
The Seattle Pacific women's varsity eight crew defeated Western Washington to claim second place behind top-ranked Central Oklahoma, which won all three races on April 14 in the inaugural Falcon Regatta on the Lake Washington Ship Canal.
 
UCO went wire-to-wire to win the featured race of eight-oared varsity crews. The Bronchos posted a speedy time of 6:30.3 over the 2,000-meter course. The Falcons broke free from Western at the 500-meter mark and finished with an open-water advantage with a second-place time of 6:42.0. The Vikings' third-place time was 6:47.3.
 
Saturday morning's other two races were tight affairs with Central Oklahoma emerging victorious by less than a second in both. The winning time in the varsity four event was 7:21.4 and Western was second in 7:22.3. The Falcons were a distant third in 7:58.2.
 
The first race of the day was for open fours and UCO clocked a winning time of 7:41.5. SPU was one-half second back in 7:42.0. The Vikings crossed the line several lengths back with a time of 7:55.7.
 
NEXT WEEK
The Falcons fleet continues the 2018 campaign in one of the most-watched regattas in the world. They remain in Seattle on May 5 to compete in the Windermere Cup on the Montlake Cut. The annual regatta that celebrates the opening of boating season in the Northwest is witnessed by thousands of spectators lining the narrow waterway. Racing begins at 10 a.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S ROWING
2018 WIRA Championships
(all races 2,000 meters, only events with SPU entries listed)
 
SCHEDULE & LANE ASSIGNMENTS
 
Saturday, April 28
Varsity Eight (DII/DIII/Club)
8:40 a.m. – Heat I:  1-Central Oklahoma, 2-UC Santa Barbara, 3-UC San Diego, 4-California lightweight, 5-Lewis & Clark, 6-Mills, 7-Pacific
8:50 a.m. – Heat II:  1-Seattle Pacific, 2-Western Washington, 3-Puget Sound, 4-Humboldt State, 5-UC Davis, 6-Southern Oregon, 7-Oregon
 
Novice Eight
9:50 a.m. – Heat I:  1-Humboldt State, 2-Seattle Pacific, 3-Orange Coast, 4-Chico State, 5-Sonoma State, 6-Oregon, 7-Washington State
10:00 a.m. – Heat II:  1-UC San Diego, 2-Seattle University, 3-Southern Oregon, 4-UC Irvine, 5-UC Santa Barbara, 6-California lightweight, 7-Mills
3:30 p.m. –Petite final
 
Varsity Four (DII/DIII/Club)
10:50 a.m. – Heat I:  1-Central Oklahoma, 2-Southern Oregon, 3-Orange Coast, 4-Lewis & Clark, 5-Chico State, 6-Long Beach State, 7-Southern Oregon "B"
11:00 a.m. – Heat II:  1-Humboldt State, 2-Puget Sound, 3-Seattle Pacific, 4-UC Irvine, 5-Sonoma State, 6-Oregon
11:10 a.m. – Heat III:  1-Western Washington, 2-UC San Diego, 3-UC Davis, 4-UC Santa Barbara, 5-Pacific, 6-Washington State club
4:00 p.m. – Third final
4:10 p.m. – Petite final
 

Sunday, April 29
8:10 a.m. – Varsity eight (third final)
8:30 a.m. – Varsity eight (petite final)
9:00 a.m. – Varsity eight (grand final)
10:00 a.m. – Novice eight (grand final)
10:30 a.m. – Varsity four (grand final)
 
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC LINEUPS
 
Varsity Eight
cox – Jacqueline Kemp (So./Burien, WA/homeschool)
stroke – Chloe Remley (So./San Diego, CA/High Tech HS)
7 – Kaitlin Dickinson (So./Monroe, WA/Monroe HS)
6 – Gillian Edgar (So./Seattle, WA/King's HS)
5 – Suzanne Stafford (Fr./Clackamas, OR/Clackamas HS)
4 – Megan Chalfant (Fr./Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS)
3 – Samantha Kimmel (Fr./Woodinville, WA/Bellevue Christian HS)
2 – Natalie Beall (Sr./Wenatchee, WA/Wenatchee HS)
bow – Amanda Larsen (So./Eugene, OR/Willamette HS)
 
Varsity Four
cox – Simone Herzberg (Sr./Portland, OR/Jesuit HS)
stroke – Gracie Hoidal (Jr./Everett, WA/Cascade HS)
3 – Hannah Hutchinson (So./Minneapolis, MN/Great River HS)
2 – Laura Su (Sr./Bellevue, WA/homeschool/Bellevue College)
bow – Brooklyn Liberato (Fr./Mount Vernon, WA/Mount Vernon HS)
 
Novice Eight
cox – Cecilia Krause (Fr./Glastonbury, CT/Glastonbury HS)
stroke – Alex Archambault (Fr./Marion, VA/Grimsley HS)
7 – Haley Thompson (Fr./Tacoma, WA/Science & Math Institute)
6 – Madison Simmons (Fr./Corona, CA/Santiago HS)
5 – Jenafer Johanson (Fr./Renton, WA/Liberty HS)
4 – Hannah Todd (So./Bonney Lake, WA/Douglas County HS, Colo.)
3 – Kali Barlow (Fr./North Bend, WA/Mount Si HS)
2 – Katy Graham (So./Seattle, WA/Ballard HS)
bow – Talia Ferguson (Fr./Coeur d'Alene, ID/Charter Academy HS)