This Week's Schedule
SATURDAY, APRIL 9
Falcon Regatta
(Cal Poly Humboldt, Western Washington, Seattle Pacific)
Lake Washington Ship Canal / Seattle, Wash. / 8:00 a.m.
 
SEATTLE – The sixth-ranked Seattle Pacific women's rowing team competes on familiar water this weekend, hosting its lone home events of the 2022 season. The three-team Falcon Regatta takes place Saturday, April 9 beginning at 8:00 a.m. on the Lake Washington Ship Canal that runs parallel to the north side of the SPU campus.
 
The Falcons will be joined by West Region rivals Cal Poly Humboldt (formerly Humboldt State) and Western Washington. All three members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference are ranked among the top-seven teams in the nation. Western is No. 5 and Humboldt No. 7 in this week's coaches poll.
 
Saturday's competition consists of two flights, beginning at 8 a.m. with the race for open fours with the varsity four and varsity eights events completing the early session.
 
The second flight starts with the varsity fours at 10:30 a.m. followed by the varsity eights. The regatta concludes with an exhibition race between an eight-oared boat rowed by SPU alumni versus the Falcons current novice eight.
 
HOMEWARD BOUND
The SPU rowers are happy to be home and racing on their own course after embarking on an adventurous road trip in each of the past two weeks.
 
The Falcons visited Oklahoma City, Okla. to compete against top-ranked Central Oklahoma and NCAA Division I Kansas on March 26. Last week, on April 2, SPU's top crews traveled to Sarasota, Florida for the FIRA Championships, placing third among a strong field of the finest Division II teams from the South Region.
 
THE SHIP CANAL COURSE
The starting line for the Falcon Regatta is approximately 1,000 meters east of the Fremont Bridge, almost even with Gas Works Park. The 2,000-meter course runs from east to west, through the Lake Washington Ship Canal that runs parallel to the SPU campus, on the north side. The finish line is behind Brougham Pavilion.
 
ELISE ARKILLS INTERVIEW

FALCONS FLEET
Seven boats will represent Seattle Pacific at Saturday's Falcon Regatta; a varsity eight, varsity four, second varsity eight, novice four and novice eight crew along with two open fours.
 
The featured event will actually be contested twice as the top eight-oared crews will clash once during each flight. All three schools meet at 8:30 a.m. to complete the early session before returning to the starting line for another run at the 2,000-meter course at 10:45 a.m. Humboldt and SPU will compete in both varsity eight races while Western Washington will only take part in the early race. The Falcons second varsity eight will participate in that second varsity eight race.
 
The schools will also clash twice in the varsity four events, at 8:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. As with the varsity eights, WWU will not participate in the varsity fours race during the second flight.
 
SPU has not competed versus Humboldt this season. The Falcons top-two crews squared off with WWU on March 5 in the season-opening PLU Invite on American Lake. The Vikings were convincing, 16-second victors in the varsity eight race against SPU. The Falcons turned the tables in the matchup of varsity fours, topping Western by over 12 seconds.
 
FALCON REGATTA HISTORY
Seattle Pacific crews were victorious in three of seven races on March 27, 2021 and the varsity eight boat twice finished within one second of defending national champion Central Oklahoma at last year's Falcon Regatta on the Lake Washington Ship Canal.
 
The Falcons varsity four crew drew a split, capturing the first matchup by over two seconds while Central Oklahoma won the rematch by five seconds. Western Washington was a distant third in both races. SPU boats also crossed the finish line first in the second varsity eight event and the open fours race.
 
That 2021 competition was the first in three years as the previous two planned Falcon Regattas were not conducted due to unusual circumstances.
 
There was no Falcons Regatta in 2020 as that competition was canceled three days before the scheduled March 14 date to to the Covid-19 outbreak. The 2019 Falcon Regatta, which was to feature a February 16 dual between the Falcons and Gonzaga, was canceled due to heavy snowfall in the Seattle area.
 
The inaugural Falcon Regatta occurred on April 14, 2018. The SPU varsity eight defeated Western Washington to claim second place behind top-ranked Central Oklahoma, which won all three races on the Lake Washington Ship Canal. UCO also won the varsity four race.
 

ROWERS RANKED
Seattle Pacific's rowing team remained sixth 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 atop the rankings and is joined in the poll by GNAC rivals Western Washington (5th), Seattle Pacific (6th) and Cal Poly Humboldt (7th).
 
Pocock CRCA Coaches Poll (April 6)
Rank,  School,  Points (1st-place votes)
1, Central Oklahoma (4), 177
2, Mercyhurst (1), 152
3, Barry, 148
4, Embry Riddle, 138
5, Western Washington, 91
6, Seattle Pacific, 85
7, Cal Poly Humboldt, 60
8, Florida Tech, 49
 
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
In two weeks, the Falcons fly south, to Gold River, California, for the annual WIRA Championships. The two-day regatta, conducted by the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association, takes place on April 30 and May 1 on Lake Natoma. Heats are scheduled for Friday with finals set for Saturday.
 
NCAA WOMEN'S ROWING
Falcon Regatta
Saturday, April 9, 2022
Lake Washington Ship Canal / Seattle, Wash.
Cal Poly Humboldt, Western Washington & Seattle Pacific
(all races 2,000 meters)
 
Flight I
8:00 a.m. – Open fours (WWU, SPU & SPU "B")
8:15 a.m. – Varsity fours (CPH, WWU & SPU)
8:30 a.m. – Varsity eights (CPH, WWU & SPU)
 
Flight II
10:30 a.m. – Varsity fours (CPH, SPU & SPU novice)
10:45 a.m. – Varsity eights (CPH, SPU & SPU 2V)
11:30 a.m. – Alumni race (SPU alumni vs. SPU novice)
 
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 – Jacinta Grandel (Jr./Palmer, AK/Rosary HS)
5 – Natalie Korolenko (So./Redmond, WA/Cedar Park Christian HS)
4 – Elise Arkills (So./Tacoma, WA/Curtis 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 – Jessica Vester (Jr./Oak Harbor, WA/Oak Harbor HS)
stroke – Jennifer Hoag (Sr./Normandy Park, WA/Seattle Christian HS)
3 – Nicole Svoboda (Gr./La Quinta, CA/La Quinta HS)
2 –Ingrid Erickson (Fr./Renton, WA/Kentridge HS)
bow – Avalon Tarbet-Mendoza (Sr./Vancouver, WA/Columbia River HS)
 
Second Varsity Eight
cox – Lucy Sandahl (So./Coupeville, WA/Coupeville HS)
stroke – Audrey Rekedal (Fr./Pasadena, CA/Maranatha HS)
7 – Emma Ely (Fr./Buckley, WA/White River HS)
6 – Megan Rouse (So./Ferndale, WA/Lynden Christian HS)
5 –Kristin Grassell (Fr./Des Moines, WA/Evergreen Lutheran HS)
4 –Meghan Rustemeyer (Fr./Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley HS)
3 – Sophie Sandahl (Jr./Coupeville, WA/Oak Harbor HS/Skagit Valley CC)
2 – Olivia Pederson (Fr./Puyallup, WA/Rosslyn Academy, Kenya)
bow – Addie Clark (Fr./Olympia, WA/Olympia HS)
 
Open Four
cox – Lucy Sandahl (So./Coupeville, WA/Coupeville HS)
stroke – Audrey Rekedal (Fr./Pasadena, CA/Maranatha HS)
3 –Kristin Grassell (Fr./Des Moines, WA/Evergreen Lutheran HS)
2 – Megan Rouse (So./Ferndale, WA/Lynden Christian HS)
bow – Emma Ely (Fr./Buckley, WA/White River HS)
 
Open Four "B"
cox – Sara Mach (Fr./Edmonds, WA/Edmonds Heights HS)
stroke – Bella Sangston (So./Bellevue, WA/Newport HS)
3 – Summer Frank (So./Rocklin, CA/Rocklin HS)
2 –Meghan Rustemeyer (Fr./Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley HS)
bow – Addie Clark (Fr./Olympia, WA/Olympia HS)
 
Novice Eight
cox – Lucy Sandahl (So./Coupeville, WA/Coupeville HS)
stroke – Mary Goodhew (Fr./Eugene, OR/homeschool)
7 – Addie Clark (Fr./Olympia, WA/Olympia HS)
6 –Meghan Rustemeyer (Fr./Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley HS)
5 – Madison Raines (Fr./Orlando, FL/Celebration HS)
4 –Graysen Swanson (So./Ellensburg, WA/Riverside Christian HS)
3 – Jaida Jones (Fr./Mill Creek, WA/Jackson HS)
2 – Olivia Pederson (Fr./Puyallup, WA/Rosslyn Academy, Kenya)
bow – Jessica Vester (Jr./Oak Harbor, WA/Oak Harbor HS)
 
Novice Four
cox – Sara Mach (Fr./Edmonds, WA/Edmonds Heights HS)
stroke – Mary Goodhew (Fr./Eugene, OR/homeschool)
3 – Madison Raines (Fr./Orlando, FL/Celebration HS)
2 –Graysen Swanson (So./Ellensburg, WA/Riverside Christian HS)
bow – Jaida Jones (Fr./Mill Creek, WA/Jackson HS)