THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE

SATURDAY-SUNDAY, APRIL 30-MAY 1
WIRA Championships
Lake Natoma / Gold River, California / 8:00 a.m.
 
• Webcast:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0OSXXxnkl8JcqnEX8op2bOVucI4RPKMm
• Results:  https://clockcaster.com/e/40
 
Four crews from the fifth-ranked Seattle Pacific women's rowing team travel to Gold River, California this weekend to compete at the two-day Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships. The regatta, which serves as the unofficial West Coast championships, takes place Saturday and Sunday, April 30 and May 1, on Lake Natoma located northeast of Sacramento.
 
This regatta plays a crucial role in the Falcons pursuit of an NCAA Rowing Championships berth. SPU's varsity eight and varsity four crews will race versus West Region rivals Cal Poly Humboldt and Western Washington, seeking to show superior speed.
 
All three members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference are ranked among the top-seven teams in the nation. Western is No. 4 and Humboldt No. 8 in this week's coaches poll.
 
Racing begins at 8 a.m. both days this weekend on the 2,000-meter course the finishes near the Sacramento State Aquatics Center.
 
The last two WIRA regattas were canceled due to Covid, leaving 2019 as the most recent championships conducted. Because of that, only four current Falcons have competed at the WIRA Championships. LeeAnn Arrington, Jennifer Hoag, Danielle Johnson and Avalon Tarbet-Mendoza all participated at the 2019 WIRA regatta.
 
WHAT'S WIRA?
The Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) is a regional organization with membership comprised of over 40 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.

JENNIFER HOAG INTERVIEW

THE FALCONS FLEET
Joining the varsity eight and varsity fours crews at WIRA will be SPU's second varsity eight and novice four.
 
Three of the four Falcons crews have Saturday heat races that determine their placing in various finals; the varsity eight, varsity four and novice four. The grand finals are all slated for Sunday, the same day the varsity eight third and petite finals and the varsity four petite final will be contested.
 
Varsity Eight
The Falcons top eight-oared 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. UC Santa Barbara is in Lane 3, inside of Puget Sound and Oregon. The third-, fourth- and fifth-place crews move into Sunday's petite final.
 
The first heat of the varsity eight competition features Cal Poly Humboldt as the lone NCAA Division II entry. Sunday's grand final is scheduled for 8:40 a.m.
 
Positive results for the Falcons in their two races this weekend, along with results from the varsity four, will go a long way in determining if they will receive an NCAA Championships berth. SPU has competed twice against both Western Washington and Humboldt State, drawing a split versus both of them.

Western was a 16-second victory in the first matchup with the Falcons, at the March 5 PLU Invite. SPU turned the tables in the Falcon Regatta on April 2, beating the Vikings by over four seconds.
 
Humboldt came to Seattle on March 5 and tight racing ensued in a pair of encounters. SPU won by a bow ball, with a 0.3-second win in the first race. Humboldt was victorious by the exact same 0.3-second margin in the rematch.
 
The SPU varsity eight features senior coxswain LeeAnn Arrington along with rowers Megan Popielak, Macie Leach, Elise Arkills, Natalie Korolenko, Jacinta Grandel, Kalais Samuelson, Danielle Johnson and Hannah Miller.
 
Varsity Four
SPU's leading four-oared crew seeks a top-three heat finish Saturday at 10:50 a.m. for entry into Sunday's 10:40 a.m. grand final. They row in lane one of the second heat, inside of Cal Poly Humboldt, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara. The petite final is slated for 10:30 a.m.
 
The Falcons four faced Western Washington twice this season, winning the first encounter on March 5 before being runners-up to the Vikings on April 9 in Seattle. Cal Poly Humboldt placed third in that Falcons Regatta race and finished second to SPU in the rematch later that day.
 
The Falcons varsity four crew is comprised of coxswain Moxie McCandless along with rowers Jennifer Hoag, Avalon Tarbet-Mendoza, Audrey Rekedal and Kristin Grassell.
 
Second Varsity Eight
The second varsity eight event doesn't have a Saturday race so SPU's No. 2 eight-oared crew advances directly to the three-boat grand final on Sunday at 9:10 a.m. Racing alongside the Falcons in that race are Pacific Lutheran and Lewis & Clark.
 
Steering the SPU second varsity is junior coxswain Jessica Vester while Megan Rouse serves as the stroke. Also pulling oars are Addie Clark, Bella Sangston, Emma Ely, Meghan Rustemeyer, Nicole Svoboda, Ingrid Erickson and Sophie Sandahl.
 
Novice Four
The novice four event has a large field of 21 crews divided into three heats. SPU races at 1:20 p.m. in the final heat, lining up in Lane 3 between Southern Oregon (2) and UC Santa Barbara (4). Also in that heat are Pacific, St. Mary's, Sonoma State and UC Davis.
 
The top-two finishers advance to Sunday's noon grand final. The third and fourth placers reach the petite final and the remaining crews row in the third final.
 
Sophomore Lucy Sandahl directs the Falcons novice four boat. The rowing quartet includes Olivia Pederson, Summer Frank, Graysen Swanson and Madison Raines.
 
2019 WIRA RECAP
Seattle Pacific raced to a first-place finish in the second varsity eight competition and the novice four earned the bronze medal on April 28 during the final day of the 2019 Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships on Lake Natoma.
 
The Falcons' top crew placed fifth in the varsity eight grand final and their varsity four rowed to a fourth-place performance.
 
An impressive surge just past the midway mark of the second varsity eight race propelled the Falcons to the gold medal. SPU sat in third place during the early going before taking a move to steal second from Pacific Lutheran by the 500-meter point. Humboldt State was the Falcons next victim, giving up the first-place position just past 1,000 meters. SPU continued streaking and stretched the lead to a patch of open water by the finish.
 
The Falcons second varsity completed the 2,000-meter course in 7-minutes, 2.84-seconds. UC San Diego rallied from fourth place halfway through to place second in 7:07.58. Humboldt ended up third (7:08.67), followed by PLU (7:09.61), Western Washington (7:12.04) and Puget Sound (7:14.03).
 
ROWERS RANKED
Seattle Pacific's rowing team dropped one spot, to fifth nationally, in this week's Pocock Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) poll. 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.
 
SPU did not receive an NCAA Championships invitation last season despite a No. 2 ranking at the time of selection.
 
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference is well represented with all four member schools listed among the eight ranked teams. Defending champion Central Oklahoma is ranked third and is joined in the poll by GNAC rivals Western Washington (4th), Seattle Pacific (5th) and Cal Poly Humboldt (8th).
 
Pocock CRCA Coaches Poll (April 27)
Rank,  School,  Points (1st-place votes)
1, Mercyhurst (5), 175
2, Embry Riddle, 159
3, Central Oklahoma, 158
4, Western Washington, 98
5, Seattle Pacific, 91
6, Barry, 73
7, Jefferson, 69
8, Cal Poly Humboldt, 61
 
THE TEAM
This season's Seattle Pacific roster is comprised of 33 student-athletes. The roster features a nearly even split between 16 returning (varsity) student-athletes and 17 newcomers, who are termed "novices" in rowing vernacular. Many of them are true novices, who had no rowing experience prior to joining the SPU squad.
 
The Falcons hail from nine different states with 20 of them calling Washington home. California is represented by five members of the roster and two are from Oregon.  Six additional states produced one SPU rowing team member; Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

 

MEET COACH McCLAIN
Caitlin McClain is in her second season as women's head coach after directing SPU to a No. 2 national ranking in her inaugural campaign. The former Loyola Marymount standout, who served 15 years at the helm of the Holy Names Academy program, was hired on Aug. 8, 2021 as the women's rowing coach at Seattle Pacific. McClain provides a wealth of rowing experience to SPU, including competitive stints at HNA and Loyola Marymount along with national coaching duties with USRowing.
 
She served as the women's lead coach for the 2021 Under-19 National Team, which competed in August at the 2021 World Rowing Junior Championships in Bulgaria. She previously served as an assistant coach for the Under-19 women's national team in 2014 and then was promoted to CanAmMex coach in 2016 and the junior world championships coach in 2019.
 
McClain built a regional high school rowing power and made Holy Names a major player at the national level. Her Cougars crews accumulated 10 medals and won national championships in 2015 and 2017 at the junior club regatta. She coached three rowers and two coxswains who went on to make World Rowing Junior Championships squads.
 
As a competitor, McClain captained Holy Names her final two years, in 2000 and 2001, and helped the varsity four crew to a silver medal at the nationals her senior season.
 
Her rowing career continued at Loyola Marymount where she occupied the stroke seat of the varsity eight for every race as a freshman. The Lions thrived during her four seasons, reaping titles at the West Coast Conference, WIRA and San Diego Crew Classic regattas.
 
McClain replaced Andrew Derrick, who served four seasons from 2017 through 2020.
 
FANTASTIC FALCONS
The Falcons have flourished on the water, capped by a fourth-place team finish at the 2019 NCAA Division II championships. SPU got fourth-place finishes from both the varsity eight and varsity four crews.
 
Seattle Pacific has earned five berths to the NCAA regatta. Three appearances (2007, 2009, 2011) were made by at-large varsity eight entries that did not factor into the team standings. The Falcons' 2010 foray into the national team competition resulted in a second-place result. The finest finish by a Falcons varsity eight was a third-place performance in 2009.
 
NEXT REGATTA
The Falcons fleet continues the 2022 campaign in one of the most-watched regattas in the world. They stay in Seattle on May 7 to compete in the Windermere Cup on the Montlake Cut. The annual regatta, hosted by the University of Washington, celebrates the opening of boating season in the Northwest and is witnessed by thousands of spectators lining the narrow waterway. Racing begins at 10:15 a.m.
 
NCAA WOMEN'S ROWING
2022 WIRA Championships
Lake Natoma / Gold River, Calif.
(all races 2,000 meters, only events with SPU entries listed)
 
SCHEDULE & LANE ASSIGNMENTS
 
Saturday, April 30
Varsity Eight DII/DIII/Club (top 3 advance to grand final)
8:40 a.m. – Heat I:  1-Cal Poly Humboldt, 2-UC Davis, 3-Pacific Lutheran, 4-UC Irvine, 5-Lewis & Clark.
8:50 a.m. – Heat II:  1-Seattle Pacific, 2-Western Washington, 3-UC Santa Barbara, 4-Puget Sound, 5-Oregon.
 
Varsity Four DII/DIII/Club (top 3 advance to grand final)
10:40 a.m. – Heat I:  1-Western Washington, 2-Pacific Lutheran, 3-Oregon, 4-Washington State.
10:50 a.m. – Heat II:  1-Seattle Pacific, 2-Cal Poly Humboldt, 3-UC Irvine, 4-UC Santa Barbara.
 
Novice Four (top 2 advance to grand final)
1:00 p.m. – Heat I:  1-Seattle University, 2-California lightweight, 3-Cal Poly Humboldt, 4-Santa Clara, 5-Oregon, 6-UC Davis "A", 7-Orange Coast.
1:10 p.m. – Heat II:  1-Loyola Marymount, 2-Mills, 3-San Diego, 4-Puget Sound, 5-Chico State, 6-UC San Diego, 7-Arizona State.
1:20 p.m. – Heat III:  1-Pacific, 2-Southern Oregon, 3-Seattle Pacific, 4-UC Santa Barbara, 5-St. Mary's, 6-Sonoma State, 7-UC Davis "B".
3:50 p.m. – Third final
4:00 p.m. – Petite final
 
 
Sunday, May 1
8:30 a.m. – Varsity eight (petite final)
8:40 a.m. – Varsity eight (grand final)
9:10 a.m. – Second varsity eight (grand final)
     Lanes:  1-Seattle Pacific, 2-Pacific Lutheran, 3-Lewis & Clark.
10:30 a.m. – Varsity four (petite final)
10:40 a.m. – Varsity four (grand final)
12:00 p.m. – Novice four (grand final)
 
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC LINEUPS
 
Varsity Eight
cox – LeeAnn Arrington (Sr./Empire, OK/Empire HS)
stroke – Megan Popielak (So./Petaluma, CA/Petaluma HS)
7 – Macie Leach (Jr./Chico, CA/Pleasant Valley HS)
6 – Elise Arkills (So./Tacoma, WA/Curtis HS)
5 – Natalie Korolenko (So./Redmond, WA/Cedar Park Christian HS)
4 – Jacinta Grandel (Jr./Palmer, AK/Rosary HS)
3 – Kalais Samuelson (Jr./Beaverton, OR/Sunset HS)
2 – Danielle Johnson (Sr./Mill Creek, WA/Jackson HS)
bow – Hannah Miller (So./East Lyme, CT/East Lyme HS)
 
Varsity Four
cox – Moxie McCandless (Jr./Albuquerque, NM/Albuquerque Academy HS)
stroke – Jennifer Hoag (Sr./Normandy Park, WA/Seattle Christian HS)
3 – Avalon Tarbet-Mendoza (Sr./Vancouver, WA/Columbia River HS)
2 – Audrey Rekedal (Fr./Pasadena, CA/Maranatha HS)
bow – Kristin Grassell (Fr./Des moines, WA/Evergreen Lutheran HS)
 
Novice Four
cox – Lucy Sandahl (So./Coupeville, WA/Coupeville HS)
stroke – Olivia Pederson (Fr./Puyallup, WA/Rosslyn Academy, Kenya)
3 – Summer Frank (So./Rocklin, CA/Rocklin HS)
2 –Graysen Swanson (So./Ellensburg, WA/Riverside Christian HS)
bow – Madison Raines (Fr./Orlando, FL/Celebration HS)
 
Second Varsity Eight
cox – Jessica Vester (Jr./Oak Harbor, WA/Oak Harbor HS)
stroke – Megan Rouse (So./Ferndale, WA/Lynden Christian HS)
7 – Addie Clark (Fr./Olympia, WA/Olympia HS)
6 – Bella Sangston (So./Bellevue, WA/Newport HS)
5 – Emma Ely (Fr./Buckley, WA/White River HS)
4 – Meghan Rustemeyer (Fr./Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley HS)
3 – Nicole Svoboda (Gr./La Quinta, CA/La Quinta HS)
2 – Ingrid Erickson (Fr./Renton, WA/Kentridge HS)
bow – Sophie Sandahl (Jr./Coupeville, WA/Oak Harbor HS/Skagit Valley CC)