TACOMA, Wash. — The Pacific Lutheran University women's rowing team looks to buck expectations this spring with a young roster ready to have a breakout season.
 
The Lutes won six straight Northwest Conference titles from 2016 to 2022 but head into the 2024 spring campaign with just two Lutes from that championship run.
 
"It's a very young team this year but we're trying to build back up that momentum and get ready to hopefully contend and have a chance to get the conference championship back," said interim Head Coach Sienna Mathes who takes the reigns of her alma mater after rowing for the Lutes from 2016-2019. 
 
"This year is a big building year. We only have two people who are graduating, so ideally almost everyone will be back next year with a good solid foundation."
 
The seasoned vets for the squad are Julez Johnson and Carleigh Templin who both have experience rowing at the NCAA Division III Championships. Johnson was on varsity eight boats that finished fifth at the NCAA Championships in 2021 and seventh in 2022. Templin was in that same 2022 boat that was seventh at the national regatta while staffing the second varsity eight boat that was sixth at the 2021 Championships. 
 
A Minnesota native, Johnson's resume includes earning All-Northwest Conference honors twice, in addition to being a two-time Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) All-American. 
 
Also returning for the Lutes is Jess Crespo, Miram Greer, Hannah Miyasaki, Suzie Roberts, and Ashley Teague. All five raced in the second varsity eight boat last spring that finished the season with a fifth place showing at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships.
 
"They're really the leaders on the team this year. Each one that's back brings something a little different."
 
"They all have a lot of drive and they're doing a good job finding a way to share that enthusiasm with the novices coming in. I think in the past three weeks they've really decided to dig deep and figure out how to get to the next level."
 
While the Lutes' boast seven returners, the bulk of the squad are first-years and rowing for the first time in their careers. 
 
Anchoring the Lute newcomers is Louisa Compton from Seattle, Washington, Maple Valley, Washington's Riah Heil, Makayla Hall from down the road in Puyallup, Washington, and Tacoma's Adia Carei.
 
Compton, who rowed at Green Lake, has moved to coxswain while Heil has worked in at stroke seat on the 1V. Carei comes to PLU with rowing pedigree, with two parents who rowed for the Lutes, while Hall has proved to be one of the fastest Lutes on the erg, transitioning from being a coxswain into a rower in the boat.
 
"Our recruits that came in, they've been huge leaders. Louisa rowed at Green Lake and she's now stepped in at coxswain, which is fantastic. She has the rowing background that she can bring into that boat and get that boat to where it needs to be."
 
Colorado native Sarah Hoskins looks to serve as the Lutes' other coxswain this weekend, in addition to Compton.
 
Pacific Lutheran competed twice in the fall with the varsity eight finishing sixth at the Charlie Brown Regatta on Oct. 28 while the varsity four finished ninth at the Head of the Lake on Nov. 5 to cap off the abbreviated fall slate. 
 
The Lutes were picked to finish fourth in NWC in the annual coaches' poll, picked behind reigning league champion Lewis & Clark College, boathouse rival University of Puget Sound, and Pacific University. 
 
This spring, the Lutes are scheduled to compete in four regattas prior to the 2024 NWC Championships on Lake Vancouver. That includes the 46th-annual Lamberth Cup and a trip to the East Coast for the Washington College Invitational in Chestertown, Maryland.
 
"I'm excited for the Washington College trip. I think we will get a very nice spread of competition there and really see where we fall against national competition. It's a nice way to kick off our spring break and then come back and do two-a-days to fix whatever didn't happen there."
 
The Lutes open the spring on Saturday, hosting the PLU Invitational on American Lake. 
 
"Success for this weekend is executing the race plan we laid out. It's not necessarily winning a race.  For a lot of them it will be the first time they've put together a race on the water. So I think getting some solid numbers from them and for them to be consistent and stay in the mix. But overall, success is executing the race plan on Saturday."