Marley's 2nd PAC 12 Championship in a Row

 

May 13, 2018

GOLD RIVER, Calif. – For the second year in a row, the Washington men's and women's rowing teams both won the Pac-12 Championship as the two programs combined to win nine out of 10 races, including both varsity eight finals, Sunday at Lake Natoma.

Both programs entered the conference championship regatta ranked No. 1 in the nation, with California No. 2 in both cases. Those rankings proved accurate on Sunday, at least, as the Huskies battled the Golden Bears throughout the day, with Cal finishing second in eight races, along with a first and a third.

Washington's women scored 45.5 total points (the maximum under the women's scoring system) to earn the team title, with Cal second (36) and Stanford third (35.5). In the men's totals, Washington finished with 72 (also the maximum). Cal was second with 65 and Stanford took third place with 54 points.

Last year, Washington's men's and women's team both won the Pac-12 title for the first time in the same season since 1997. The race results were similar as well as, in both 2017 and 2018, the UW women swept all five races while the men won the first, second and third varsity eights and the varsity four.

Washington led, essentially, from wire to wire in four of the five women's races – all but the varsity four, where Cal took the early lead before being overtaken.

"I think today was a really great statement about our entire team," said second-year women's coach Yasmin Farooq. "All through this season, these women have had a lot of changes in their lineups and their boats, and they have always greeted those changes with a smile and with respect for the team-first attitude."


"I'm really honored to have such great teammates behind me, in front of me and beside me in every erg and every practice," said junior Elise Beuke, who rowed in the seven seat in the varsity eight. "It says a lot about how, across the board, how focused and centered everyone is on our goals and how we want to execute our races."

In each of the men's races, Washington and Cal jumped out to the first two spots right from the start and stayed there, as those two teams finished first and second in all five men's races. In several of them, the Bears took the early lead, but Washington was able to come from behind.

"There was a headwind that extended the race course, and we had really strong starts at the Cal Dual," explained UW men's coach Michael Callahan. "We thought maybe they'd try to come after us at the beginning of the races. So we needed to weather a strong push from them. We knew the course was long, so we needed to be patient and take our time. We executed when we needed to take seats back on them and capitalized on that.

"I'm super excited about the maturity of our team, especially the varsity," added Callahan. "We stayed composed and internal. It's not a matter of how much you lead by; it's putting your bow ball in front. It's another step in our maturity and in our guys trusting each other. It's great to see."

It was the 38th conference title in the history of the UW men's program (the first conference championship was awarded in 1960) and the 16th for the women (first awarded in 1987).

Here are recaps of the day's 10 races:

WOMEN'S SECOND VARSITY EIGHT+
Washington's second varsity eight, coxed by Marley Avritt and stroked by Brooke Pierson, rowed a dominant race, essentially wrapping up the Pac-12 women's title with the win (UW's points advantage after the 2V8+ was such that the Huskies would have had to finish two places behind Cal in the V8+ final to lose the championship). The Husky boat took the lead from the start. At 500 meters, the UW was eight seats up on the Bears and, at 1,000, the UW shell had open water back to Cal. The Huskies won in 6:36.733, about a half-length of open water in front of the Bears, who finished in 6:42.675. Stanford was third and WSU fourth.

SECOND VARSITY 8+
Shell: Jean LaFramboise
Cox: Marley Avritt (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor)
Stroke: Brooke Pierson (Oak Harbor, Wash./West Potomac (Va.))
7: Katy Gillingham (Seattle, Wash./Holy Names Academy)
6: Carmela Pappalardo (Salerno, Italy)
5: Karle Pittsinger (Lake Chelan, Wash./Lake Chelan)
4: Jessica Thoennes (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista)
3: Jennifer Wren (Seattle, Wash./Bishop Blanchet)
2: Julia Paulsen (Seattle, Wash./The Bush School)
Bow: Calina Schanze (Behlendorf, Germany)