LAKEWOOD – Puget Sound retained both the Meyer and Lamberth Cups as the Pacific Lutheran rowing teams wrapped up the 2015 regular season Saturday morning with the annual rivalry regatta at American Lake.
"Today was an especially challenging day on the water for the crews," PLU women's rowing coach Andy Foltz said. "The wind was creating some significant chop on the water. Both teams handled the conditions well and kept the pieces very competitive."
The morning began with the women's second varsity eight race, as Puget Sound had two boats taking on PLU's lone boat in the race. The first UPS boat finished first with a time of 8:19.5, with PLU taking second at 8:24.2 and UPS's third boat taking third at 8:40. The Lutes and Loggers' first boat hung together for most of the race before UPS finished five seconds ahead.
"Through the course of the finishing stretch our boat started to fall back as the conditions got worse, but they only lost by a slim margin," Foltz said. "It was a good but messy race for them.
The men's 4V Meyer Cup race followed, with UPS' A boat placing first (7:49.7) and the Loggers' B boat taking second (8:25), while PLU placed third. The women's Lamberth Cup concluded the intercollegiate portion of the regatta, as UPS pulled out a five-second win over the Lutes with a time of 7:51.3 to PLU's 7:56.1.
"In the 1V race it was a little bittersweet," Foltz said. "We had goals of coming into this race and setting our own destiny with a win, but we also had secondary goals of decreasing the margins to as small as we could. We accomplished that as we have continued to get faster week to week to week."
The day wrapped up with the alumni races, as PLU took home the Johnson Cup for the women's alumni race and UPS won the Neils Cup for the men's alumni race.
"It is always fun to have the alumni come out and support the team, meet the team and, of course, race," Foltz said. "This year was no exception to that with a large force on the water, and we were able to take home the Johnson Cup. It was great to have everyone out supporting the men's and women's rowing teams here at PLU and UPS Athletics."
