LAKEWOOD, Wash. – Seattle Pacific's second varsity women's crew was the runner-up in the collegiate JV eight race and the varsity four placed third on Sunday morning at the American Lake Fall Classic regatta.
 
Both of the NCAA Division II Falcons boats were only beaten by Division I competitors.
 
"It was a great outing. We took the strategy of just being really intentional in each part of the race," said second-year SPU coach Caitlin McClain. "So, each part was dedicated to a different focus on technique and the team definitely executed all those pieces and ended up with really good placements.
 
"This is a solid foundation for us to build upon. There wasn't anything glaringly wrong, which is great. But, we can keep getting better at what we did today."
 
UNIQUE RACING FORMAT
Instead of traditional Olympic-style racing, with boats lined up side-by-side on a 2,000-meter course, Sunday's regatta on American Lake utilized a head race format over a 5,000-meter (3.1 mile) course.
 
Crews departed the start line in intervals, one-after-another in a single-file, time-trial format. Passing was allowed and the order-of-finish was determined by each crew's elapsed time from start to finish.

MOXIE McCANDLESS INTERVIEW

SECOND VARSITY EIGHT RECAP
SPU's lone eight-oared crew competed in the Collegiate Junior Varsity event, placing second to Portland. The Pilots clocked a time of 19-minutes, 29.4-seconds to finish just over a minute ahead of the Falcons, who completed the course in 20:32.3.
 
Seattle University trailed SPU by more than a minute with a third-place time of 21:49.7 followed by Pacific (Ore.) in 23:53.2 and Pacific Lutheran in 25:46.6.
 
Directed by coxswain Moxie McCandless, the SPU boat featured seven experienced varsity rowers. Joining the group, in the No. 7 seat, was freshman Victoria Brohard who graduated from Puyallup (Wash.) High School.
 
VARSITY FOUR RECAP
The Falcons top four-oared crew competed against a larger field, coming away with a third-place result. They finished closer to first-place Portland than their teammates in the other event.
 
The Pilots handily won the fours race, turning in a time of 20:51.1 to pace the nine-boat field. Seattle University was nearly 22 seconds back in 21:12.7.
 
SPU's third-place time of 21:32.8 put them 20 seconds behind the Redhawks, but nearly a minute faster than Oregon. The Ducks crossed the finish line in 22:28.2, leading a second Portland boat in fifth place (22:34.3). Pacific Lutheran was sixth (23:14.3) followed by Seattle University's second (23:41.6) and third entries (26:01.7) and a second PLU crew (26:32.7).
 
Coxed by LeeAnn Arrington, the Falcons crew featured returning rowers Jacinta Grandel, Macie Leach, Danielle Johnson and Avalon Tarbet-Mendoza.
 
The Falcons had entered a second four-oared boat in the same race, but that crew was scratched. Some members of the eight-oared crew were going to row again, but some sickness squelched that plan.
 
"We couldn't have asked for better conditions," McClain said. "We had some curveballs coming into the racing in terms of lineups, but we had also been practicing with mixed lineups to get everyone's skill levels up. That paid dividends in terms of us being able to go out there and race well."
 
NEXT REGATTA
The Falcons rowers close out the fall portion of their schedule on Nov. 7 at the Head of the Lake Regatta on the Montlake Cut. The annual event is hosted by the University of Washington.
 
"We're really looking forward to Head of the Lake," said McClain. "We went into today's regatta wanting to prepare and build into Head of the Lake, and we definitely did that."
 
The primary collegiate rowing season is in the spring and the Falcons will announce that schedule when it is finalized.
 
NCAA WOMEN'S ROWING
American Lake Fall Classic
Sunday, October 17, 2021
American Lake / Lakewood, Wash.
(5,000-meter course, head racing)
 
RESULTS (SPU races only)
 
Collegiate JV Eights
1, Portland, 19:29.4
2, Seattle Pacific, 20:32.3
3, Seattle University, 21:49.7
4, Pacific, 23:53.2
5, Pacific Lutheran, 25:46.6
 
       SPU lineup:  cox–Moxie McCandless, stroke-Megan Popielak, 7-Victoria Brohard, 6-Nicole Svoboda, 5-Summer Frank, 4-Bella Sangston, 3-Elise Arkills, 2-Ava Liebendorfer, bow-Kalais Samuelson.
 
Collegiate Fours
1, Portland, 20:51.1
2, Seattle University, 21:12.7
3, Seattle Pacific, 21:32.8
4, Oregon, 22:28.2
5, Portland "B", 22:34.3
6, Pacific Lutheran, 23:14.3
7, Seattle University "B", 23:41.6
8, Seattle University "C", 26:01.7
9, Pacific Lutheran "B", 26:32.7
scratch -- Seattle Pacific "B"
 
       SPU lineup:  cox–LeeAnn Arrington, stroke-Jacinta Grandel, 3-Macie Leach, 2-Danielle Johnson, bow-Avalon Tarbet-Mendoza.