Results

LAKEWOOD, Wash. — The Pacific Lutheran University women's rowing team won two races on Saturday, opening up the spring season with a strong showing at the PLU Invitational on American Lake.

"We're really happy with our first race day. We had a lot of success, especially in the first flight, but more importantly, we gained valuable experience and learned some hard lessons," said Head Coach Matt Oclander.

"We're especially proud of the 2V8+ for crossing the line ahead of Lewis & Clark twice. They made a big jump in their race pace this week. Our Varsity 8+ put together a strong first race, but in the second, we may have gone out a bit too aggressively. We held a solid first 1,500 meters at a high rate but hit a limit in the last 500 and fell back. Credit to Lewis & Clark for a great race in the second flight!"

The Lutes set the tone in the day's opening race with the varsity eight boat blowing away Northwest Conference rival Pacific University. PLU's top boat of coxswain Louisa Compton and a crew of Adia Carei, Kennadi Jones, Kat Judd, Ashley Teague, Carleigh Templin, Tate Trahan, Riah Heil, and Makayla Hall, glided down the 2,000-meter course in seven minutes, 57.8 seconds— crossing the finish line a comfortable 27 seconds ahead of the rival Boxers.

PLU's second varsity eight came up big in their first race of the day, finishing over 11 seconds ahead of NWC rival Lewis & Clark College. That boat, crewed by coxswain Sylvie Manz and rowers Sophia Pancoast, Sage Miller, Miram Greer, Maddie Anderson, Suzie Roberts, Mackenzie Poppe, Sareena Dhaliwal, and Abby Andrews barreled down the course in 8:55.0 and was second overall to Division II Western Washington University. 

The second round of racing saw PLU's varsity eight finish a split second behind Lewis & Clark in a photo finish. The Lutes shaved off 13 seconds from its first 2K of the day, crossing the finish line buoys in 7:44.5 with the Pioneers just a sliver ahead in 7:43.0. Compton was again the coxswain for the 1V with the Spirit of '02 boat crewed by Carei, Jones, Judd, Teague, Templin, Anderson, Heil, and Hall.

The Lutes' second varsity eight claimed a second win of the day over Lewis & Clark, winning the head-to-head race by over eight seconds after clocking a time of 8:42.3. Sarah Hoskins served as coxswain with Pancoast, Trahan, Greer, Miller, Roberts, Poppe, Dhaliwal, and Andrews staffing the oars. 

PLU also raced three smaller boats with the varsity four boat finishing third behind Oregon State University and the University of Oregon. Crewed by Carei, Teague, Heil, Hall, and coxswain Compton, the Lutes finished in 8:46.9.

The Lutes' novice four boat was runner-up in their race, finishing in 9:06.2 and holding a comfortable gap on boats from Oregon and Lewis & Clark. Jilma Diaz-Demangue piloted the boat as coxswain with a crew of Judd, Jones, Dhaliwal, and Anderson.
 
PLU closed the day with a fourth place finish by the open four boat in 9:34.4. Staffing that boat was Hoskins at coxswain along with a crew of Templin, Trahan, Greer, and Poppe.

"In the fours, we wish we had seen more competitive times, but given the deteriorating conditions and it being everyone's third race of the day, the experience was still really valuable.

Thank you to all the visiting teams for a great day of racing! A special shout out to Julia Wolf for managing the finish line timing, and to Dave, Eric, and Jess from UPS for their help on the water and shore. Everything ran smoothly, and I appreciate everyone's effort."
 
The Lutes take next weekend off before a showdown with boathouse rival University of Puget Sound on March 22 for possession of the Lamberth Cup.