SEATTLE – The Falcons finally found what they were looking for after two frustrating seasons.
 
Two years after a 2020 season full of promise was cut short due to Covid and one year after the heartbreak of viewing the 2021 women's rowing championships field being announced, and not having their school's name displayed, the team congregated to watch the 2022 NCAA selection show.
 
They were rewarded Monday afternoon, bursting out in screams of joy when "Seattle Pacific" appeared in the postseason bracket for the first time since 2019.

VIDEO: FALCONS ROWERS REACT TO NCAA ANNOUNCEMENT

SPU was included in the six-team field for the NCAA Division II Women's Rowing Championships that take place May 27 and 28 at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida.
 
"We're so ecstatic. It's just a feeling of excitement and pride for the team," said SPU coach Caitlin McClain. "Hands down, the team's reaction was the best part. The NCAA held us in suspense there with the way that they announced it, so that was harder than I wanted it to be.
 
"When they finally showed our name on the screen, the immediate reaction of the group was so satisfying to see, especially after last year's difficult ending."
 
The Falcons will be joined at the championships by Central Oklahoma, the three-time defending national champion, along with Embry-Riddle, Thomas Jefferson, Mercyhurst and Western Washington.
 
Each team will enter one varsity eight and one varsity four crew. The team champion is determined by combining the results from those two events, with greater importance being given to results from the eight-oared competition.
 
The Falcons will participate in their sixth NCAA regatta, but will compete in the total team competition for just the third time in school history. SPU was the national runner-up in the 2010 team standings, claiming the silver medal, and finished fourth at the 2019 regatta in their most recent appearance.
 
The Division II format formerly included four full squads along with two at-large crews invited to participate only in the varsity eight races without factoring into the team scoring. SPU qualified single boats in 2007, 2009 and 2011.
 
The Falcons staked their claim to consideration for a 2022 NCAA berth with a second-place showing across the board at Saturday's Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships on Dexter Lake in Lowell, Oregon. They were runners-up in the team standings along with the varsity eight and varsity four races.
 
VIDEO: MACIE LEACH INTERVIEW

The West Region produced three of the top-four finishers at the last full-field NCAA Championships of six teams. Central Oklahoma won the 2019 national title, Western Washington placed third and SPU fourth in 2019. The 2020 championship regatta was canceled due to the pandemic, which altered last year's competition by limiting the field to just four teams.
 
Despite being listed second in the national coaches poll and owning a No. 2 West Region ranking, the Falcons were not invited to participate at the 2021 NCAA Championships.
 
"We learned that you just have to go in thinking about the good that can come out of it and feeling pleased with what we have already accomplished. The rest was out of our hands," McClain said. "Going into today, I was optimistic and felt like we certainly had earned it.
 
"We raced so hard this year against so many different opponents, so it was hard to imagine that we wouldn't have gotten the bid. There was optimism there. But there was also that little bit of uncertainty, thinking that we survived last year and if that's how it goes again this year, we will survive again."
 
The NCAA regatta lineups can still be changed, but in the most recent race SPU's varsity eight was led by senior coxswain LeeAnn Arrington. The crew included stroke Jennifer Hoag, Macie Leach, Jacinta Grandel, Natalie Korolenko, Elise Arkills, Kalais Samuelson, Danielle Johnson and Hannah Miller.
 
Senior Moxie McCandless helms the varsity four, directing rowers Megan Popielak, Avalon Tarbet-Mendoza, Audrey Rekedal, Kristin Grassell.
 
McClain, in her second season leading the SPU program, appreciates the togetherness of her team.
 
"Seeing them before the announcement, there wasn't a fear about it, or anything like that, but just a hopefulness that they were waiting to hear. The unity and love for one another was really strong. They were all holding hands leading up to the announcement, that piece of it was really powerful."
 
2022 NCAA Women's Rowing Championships
May 27-28 in Sarasota, Florida
 
Division II Qualifiers
Central Oklahoma
Embry-Riddle
Thomas Jefferson
Mercyhurst
Seattle Pacific
Western Washington