BETHEL, Ohio – The Seattle Pacific University women's rowing varsity 4+ of
Aleksia Haugen,
Gem Gatmaytan,
Bella Lisenby,
Megan Rouse, and
Hannah Miller captured the national championship on Saturday, while the team finished fifth in the nation.
The V4+ has been a strength of the Falcons throughout the 2024 season. It's been different combinations throughout the season as well. Haugen, Gatmaytan, Lisenby, Rouse, and Miller were put together at the beginning of the week and showed instant success.
In their first race together, the V4+ stated they were the right combination. They posted an 8:19.887 in Friday's heat race and advanced into Saturday's grand final.
With a gold medal on the line, the Falcons improved their time from Friday. SPU blasted down the 2,000-meter course in 07:46.395. They beat Cal Poly Humboldt by 4.015 seconds, while Central Oklahoma took third.
"After their performance in the heat, the V4+, with the guidance of Coach
Kenzie Waltar, did an excellent job of harnessing their physical, mental, and emotional energy and getting on the same page as each other," head coach
Caitlin McClain said. "When it came to race day, they were focused and composed during land warmup, then took that to the water where they got ahead early and kept walking away from the field. While they certainly had the speed to do well at the championships, their win was, in part, a result of their ability to quickly connect and commit to each other in pursuit of the team goal to make the podium at NCAAs."
"While we fell short of a team podium finish this year, the V4+ win is a huge achievement, and the V8+ executed a great last race that showed improvement in aggression and race execution," McClain said.
"Both the V8+ and V4+ placements are valuable motivation for the team going forward," McClain added. "Overall, the season was solid and we improved our technical and race skills as evidenced by the number of close races across the boat classes. In order make that jump to a clear NCAA team contender, we'll need to work on our top-end speed by building and maintaining our aerobic base over the year."
Saturday proved to be exciting for an SPU rowing individual as well.
Audrey Rekedal was named the NCAA Elite 90 Award winner. The Elite 90, an award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among her peers. The Elite 90 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's championships.
"Audrey's strengths in the classroom are evident in her athletic pursuits as well," McClain said. "In the same way she prioritizes preparation for papers and exams, she is diligent in the peripheral aspects of athletic performance such as warming up, active recovery, and nutrition. She's incredibly hard-working, detail-oriented, and goes above and beyond to achieve her goals."
LINEUPS
V8+ - c:
Lucy Sandahl, 8:
Natalie Korolenko, 7:
Megan Popielak, 6:
Ixchel Watson, 5:
Emmerson Spencer, 4:
Emma Jones, 3:
Audrey Rekedal, 2:
Anna Boatman, 1:
Amelia Pape
V4+ - c:
Aleksia Haugen, 4:
Gem Gatmaytan,3:
Bella Lisenby, 2:
Megan Rouse 1:
Hannah Miller
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