After traveling to Spokane to take on Gonzaga and Western Washington University at Silver Lake last Saturday, the No. 10 WSU women’s rowing team finished strong with wins across the board. Strong winds were felt throughout the day, but it wasn’t enough to faze WSU. The varsity eight boat finished with a time of 6:45.78 in its race, which was good enough to put them in first ahead of Gonzaga’s 6:50.38 and WWU’s time of 7:00.10. The race strengthened WSU’s confidence. “We’re always happy to go race our neighbors up in Spokane,” WSU Head Coach Jane LaRiviere said in a WSU news release. “It was also fun to have Western Washington there and compete in a three-boat race.” The second varsity eight also nabbed a first-place victory. The team finished with a time of 7:01.83, which was close to seven seconds ahead of Gonzaga. WWU’s second varsity eight finished with a time of 7:20.68. The varsity four performed very well as both the first team and the second defeated Gonzaga. The A boat had a time of 7:54.05, and the B boat had a time of 8:04.87, respectively. As for the Bulldogs, they finished with a time of 8:16.49. Finally, the novice boats did not show their best performance of the season. Gonzaga was able to outlast the novice eight boat by milliseconds, with a time of 7:22.11. WSU recorded a time of 7:22.69, while WWU placed third with a time of 7:29.50.

The second novice eight had an impressive performance with a time of 7:36.05, finishing more than 15 seconds ahead of Gonzaga. This weekend, WSU will host its final home event against No. 18 Oregon State at the Snake River’s Wawawai Landing this Saturday. The event looks to take place in the afternoon, and the Cougars will be celebrating their 20-year anniversary this weekend with a series of events to honor the team’s history.