• VIDEO: Samantha Storz

SATURDAY, APRIL 13 --
Covered Bridge Regatta
Dexter Lake • Lowell, Ore. • 9:40 a.m.
 
SEATTLE –- Six Seattle Pacific crews will leave the state of Washington for the first time this season.
 
The Falcons visit Lowell, Oregon, just east of Eugene, for the 19th-annual Covered Bridge Regatta on Saturday, April 13. Many outstanding collegiate crews from throughout the west are expected to compete on the 2,000-meter Dexter Lake course.
 
Racing begins at 9:40 a.m. with the first event involving a Falcons crew, the women's varsity eight, set to start at 10 a.m. The final race for SPU is the women's second varsity four competition at 1:30 p.m.
 


Spectators can watch the start of races from the causeway near the historic covered bridge that lends the event its name. Another excellent viewing location is from the Lowell Park marina at the finish area.
 
Rowing alongside SPU will be crews from Chico State, Humboldt State, Lewis & Clark, Oregon, Portland State, Seattle University, Western Washington and Willamette.
 
The Falcons have three women's boats entered; in the varsity eight, varsity four and second varsity four competitions.
 
Also at the Covered Bridge Regatta, the SPU men have a trio of four-oared crews entered, including the a novice boat that seeks to replicate the first-place result of last year's first-year Falcons crew. SPU also has two entries in different flights of the men's varsity four event. The lightweight four crew rows in the first flight followed by the varsity heavyweights.
 
2012 COVERED BRIDGE RECAP
The Seattle Pacific men's novice four-oared crew won its race and the second varsity was the runner-up in another event on April 14, 2012 during the Covered Bridge Regatta at Dexter Lake. The first-year Falcons continued a streak of top-two finishes in every race this season. They completed the 2,000-meter course in 7-minutes, 9.74-seconds to record a 28-second triumph over second-place San Diego State (7:29.51).
 
The race of men's second varsity fours was won handily by Lewis & Clark with a time of 7:34.05. The Falcons finished second in 7:52.29, over 46 seconds faster than third-place Evergreen State (8:38.74). The third SPU men's crew turned in a third-place time of 7:04.44 in the varsity four competition. NCAA Division I member Oregon State was first in 6:54.78 followed by Lewis & Clark in 6:59.41.
 
A trio of women's boats also represented Division II Seattle Pacific on Saturday. The Falcons eighth-ranked varsity eight crew clocked a third-place time of 7:28.06. Division I Portland crossed the finish line first in 7:10.37 followed by third-ranked Humboldt State in 7:17.27. Fourth-place Willamette (7:32.45) trailed SPU by open water.
 
Humboldt won the women's second varsity four race (7:33.18), Portland was second (7:53.77), Willamette third (8:00.48) and the Falcons fourth (8:12.01). SPU was edged for fourth place by a deck in the race for women's varsity four crews. First-place Portland (7:52.90) was followed across the line by Humboldt (7:56.95) and Seattle University (8:13.89). Lewis & Clark finished next in 8:20.16, just ahead of the Falcons' fifth-place time of 8:20.90.
 
LAST WEEK'S RECAP
Seattle Pacific rowed to a wire-to-wire win in the men's varsity four race April 6 at the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference (NCRC) Invitational on the rough waters of Vancouver Lake. Torrential rain and strong winds forced the closure of the first half of the course midway through the 16-race schedule. Crews in later events raced for only 1,000 meters rather than the traditional 2,000.
 
The Falcons four got off to a quick start and cruised to a six-seat victory with a time of 4-minutes, 2.8-seconds. Humboldt State staged a late sprint at the finish en route to a runner-up time of 4:04.7. Host Lewis & Clark was third (4:08.8) and Oregon fifth (4:11.7).
 
Three other men's four-oared crews represented SPU. The varsity lightweights finished third (4:15.4) and the novice group was fifth (4:51.3). The second varsity was sixth (9:44.3) in an early race over the full 2,000 meters.
 
Four Falcons women's boats raced, including their only eight-oared entry. The varsity eight covered 2,000 meters in 8:32.6 to finish fourth. Puget Sound turned in a first-place time of 7:56.9, followed by Pacific Lutheran (8:10.9) and Lewis & Clark (8:16.5). The Falcons crossed the finish line ahead of fifth-place Willamette (8:51.3) and Oregon (8:54.3).
 
Among the trio of SPU women's fours, the second varsity posted the best result with a second-place time of 10:23.2 through the complete course. They finished behind Puget Sound (9:34.3) and ahead of Pacific Lutheran (11:00.5).
 
The Falcons women's varsity four finished third (4:34.1) and the novice four was fifth (5:29.5) over the abbreviated distance.
 
FORMIDABLE FOUR
Seattle Pacific's men's varsity four crew was victorious in all four regattas this season, including dual-race wins over Pacific Lutheran (Mar. 16) and Seattle University (Mar. 23) on the Lake Washington Ship Canal home course.
 
On Mar. 30 at the Cascade Sprints in Lakewood, Wash., the Falcons four finished fourth in its heat race with a time of 7:15.9. Two hours later they shaved over 20 seconds off that time to win the grand final race in 6:55.0.
 
Last week at the NCRC Invitational (April 6), SPU's top four-oared crew raced to a wire-to-wire victory over the weather-shortened 1,000-meter course.
 
COACH JEFFERSON
Keith Jefferson is in his 23rd year as head coach of the Falcons crews. He took over the head coaching post prior to the 1990-91 season after serving as an assistant on the staff since 1987. Jefferson was an SPU oarsman from 1980 to 1983.
 
Last season, Jefferson directed the men's novice four crew to a silver-medal performance at the WIRA Championships. In 2011 he coached the SPU women's varsity eight crew to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Division II Championships with the Falcons eight winning the petite final. The men's varsity four boat raced to victory in the 2011 WIRA event and the second varsity four won at the NCRC Championships.
 
In 2010 SPU placed second in the team standings at the NCAA Regatta as the varsity eight and varsity four each placed fourth in their respective events. At the 2009 NCAA Championships, the Falcons rowed to a third-place performance in the women's varsity eight grand final.
 
RETURNING ROWERS
Three oarsmen are back from the men's novice four crew that collected the silver medal at last year's WIRA Championships and finished sixth at the 2012 Dad Vail Regatta. That trio of returnees, now rowing in varsity events, includes Thomas Taylor, Matt Edel and Daniel Mudge.
 
On the women's side, four rowers return from the SPU women's varsity eight crew that won the petite final at the 2012 Dad Vail Regatta, placing seventh overall. The returning rowers are: Baylee O'Camb, Rachel Murphy, Samantha Storz and Katarina Krueger.
 
NEXT REGATTA
The Seattle Pacific crews take a week off from competition before traveling to Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif. for the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championship on April 27-28.
 
 
COVERED BRIDGE REGATTA SCHEDULE (SPU races only)
Saturday, April 13
Dexter Lake/Lowell, Ore.
(all races 2,000 meters)
 
10:00 a.m. – Women's varsity eight
11:10 a.m. – Men's novice four
12:50 a.m. – Men's varsity four (flight I, SPU lightweights)
1:00 p.m. – Men's varsity four (flight II)
1:10 p.m. – Women's varsity four
1:30 p.m. – Women's second varsity four (SPU novices)
 
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC LINEUPS
 
Women's Varsity Eight
cox – Dani Ferrigno (Sr./Kirkland, Wash.)
stroke – Rachel Murphy (Jr./DuPont, Wash.)
7 – Samantha Storz (Sr./Bellevue, Wash.)
6 – Sarah Grace (Fr./Kent, Wash.)
5 – Baylee O'Camb (Jr./Rescue, Calif.)
4 – Katarina Krueger (So./Bainbridge Island, Wash.)
3 – Sarah Lanter (Sr./Woodinville, Wash.)
2 – Sarah Doe (Fr./Colorado Springs, Colo.)
bow – Sarah McDermott (Fr./Juneau, Ak.)
 
Men's Novice Four
cox – Heather Dunmoyer (Fr./Sacramento, Calif.)
stroke – Ben Pierson (Fr./Brier, Wash.)
3 – Riley Curtis-Stroeder (Fr./Poulsbo, Wash.)
2 – Soren Stevenson (Fr./Grants Pass, Ore.)
bow – Ethan Freed (Fr./Sammamish, Wash.)
 
Men's Varsity Lightweight Four
cox – Marlise Banks (Fr./San Clemente, Calif.)
stroke – Daniel Woodward (So./Nehalem, Ore.)
3 – Thomas Taylor (Sr./Oak Harbor, Wash.)
2 – Cale Waress (Fr./Highlands Ranch, Colo.)
bow – Ben Purcell (Fr./Bay City, Ore.)
 
Men's Varsity Four
cox – Madelyn Hogue (So./Edmonds, Wash.)
stroke – Daniel Mudge (So./Vancouver, Wash.)
3 – Matt Edel (Jr./Portland, Ore.)
2 – David Sowers (Jr./Olympia, Wash.)
bow – Phillip Mach (Sr./Seattle, Wash.)
 
Women's Varsity Four
cox – Dani Ferrigno (Sr./Kirkland, Wash.)
stroke – Katarina Krueger (So./Bainbridge Island, Wash.)
3 – Samantha Storz (Sr./Bellevue, Wash.)
2 – Sarah Grace (Fr./Kent, Wash.)
bow – Baylee O'Camb (Jr./Rescue, Calif.)
 
Women's Novice Four
cox – Marlise Banks (Fr./San Clemente, Calif.)
stroke – Sarah Grace (Fr./Kent, Wash.)
3 – Emma Bolton (Fr./Winfield, Ill.)
2 – Sarah Doe (Fr./Colorado Springs, Colo.)
bow – Sarah McDermott (Fr./Juneau, Ak.)