Gonzaga University
NCAA Championships
WROW Advances to C Finals at NCAAs
5/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
GOLD RIVER, Calif. â€" The Gonzaga women's rowing team was led by a semifinal-winning performance from the Varsity 8 on the second day of action at the NCAA Championships on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif.
The V8's semifinal win advances them to the C Final on Sunday morning, and they'll be joined by the Second Varsity 8 who also advanced to the C Final with a second-place finish in their race. The Varsity Four claimed fourth in their own C-D semifinal and will move to the D Final.
"The 1V and 2V had good, strong races," head coach Glenn Putyrae said. "The 1V is finding a way to be in position to win at the end. The 2V is showing a degree of grit, and the Four had a better race today. The priority tomorrow is just to finish as high as possible and score as many points as we can."
In the V8 race, Gonzaga battled Yale out front, trailing the Ivy Leaguers for the first 1,500 meters, but a surge over the final 500 pushed the Zags to victory. GU was 1.4 seconds back at that point and claimed a quarter-second victory, make up nearly 1.7 seconds over that final 500 meters for a time of 6:29.09 compared to Yale's 6:30.02.
The Second Varsity 8 knew it also needed a top-three finish to advance to the C Final and took care of business in taking second. The Zags trailed second-place Northeastern for the first 500, but moved away from fourth-place UCF right away. Over the middle 1,000 meters, GU made its move on Northeastern and opened up a four-second gap by the time they crossed the finish at 6:45.86. Northeastern held third in the race at 6:49.69, while Indiana claimed the top spot at 6:40.92.
GU's Varsity 4 dropped 20 seconds off of its time from yesterday's headwind-infused repechage, finishing fourth in its C-D semifinal at 7:38.75. The V4 will row in the D Final on Sunday morning.
The NCAA appearance is Gonzaga's third in the last four years after claiming the West Coast Conference title two weeks ago on the same body of water. This is Gonzaga's third regatta this spring on Lake Natoma after competing in the Lake Natoma Invitational as well.
On Saturday, the top three crews from the A-B semis advance to the Grand Final, the remainder to the Petite Final. The top three crews from the C-D semis advance to the C final with the remainder to the D final.
GU will be looking to improve upon its program-best 17th-place finish at last season's NCAA Championships. The Zags will be on the course starting at 8:12 a.m. on Sunday
Gonzaga Lineups
Varsity 8 - Karly Dougherty, Kara Soucek, Ingrid Stansberry, Meghan McCallum, Devyn Bell, Lauren English, Brooklyn Beeler, Olivia Marsh, Lindey English
Second Varsity 8 - Hailey Rousseau, Lily Rorick, Micailah Donner, Isabelle Belzil, Hannah Schneiderman, Anna Johnson, Madeleine Verspieren, Hannah Brown, Casey Harder
Varsity 4 â€" Marie Hayman, Amelie Tristant, Georgia Davey, Megan Seifert, Clare Manthey
