The WSU women’s rowing team is hosting its annual Head of the Snake race on Friday.

Going into its seventh year, the Head of the Snake is held at the Cougars’ home course, Wawawai Landing. This year, the WSU rowers will face off against Gonzaga University.

The race is on a 5,000m section of the Snake River. The boats will race in the “head” style, meaning they will start in 15-second intervals. The boats will begin out of sight of fans, but the crowd will be able to view the rowers pull through the finish line.

This style of racing puts the rowers up against the clock and the other boat.

The varsity women rowers will begin the event at 2:30 p.m. and compete again at 4 p.m. The men’s club team will race against the Bulldogs at 2:45 p.m. and 4:15 p.m.

Last weekend, the women’s team raced against Gonzaga at the Spokane River and defeated the Bulldogs in four of the six races. The Head of the Snake will give WSU another opportunity to improve its record.

Made up of seniors Erica Lewis, Hannah Rothstrom, Kyann Martin, Irena Neffeova, Corina Chilibeck, juniors Annie Eastwood, Natasha Ostopovich, sophomore Katie Dick and transfer Lisa Roman, the varsity eight hope to improve their time of 17:38 from last weekend.

The women are coached by Jane LaRiviere, who is entering her eighth season as head coach. LaRiviere said she is looking forward to the home race. “We are very excited to be hosting Gonzaga at home this weekend. It’s always fun to race on the Snake, and we hope lots of people can make it down to watch,” she said in a WSU news release.

After the Head of the Snake, the WSU rowing team will compete in the Head of the Lake Regatta in Seattle on Nov. 8. The event is hosted by the University of Washington.