Six Rowers Named To All-WIRA Team
5/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Crew
May 3, 2005
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Six Gonzaga University rowers were named to the All-Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association team after completion of the annual regatta over the weekend at Lake Natoma in Sacramento. Three women's rowers earned first-team honors while two additional women's rowers and one from the men's team were named to the second-team. Gonzaga head coaches Dan Gehn and Glenn Putyrae were also named the WIRA Coaches of the Year. Gonzaga's women won three titles in the varsity 8+, junior varsity 8+ and novice 4+ while placing third in the varsity 4+. The Gonzaga men finished third in the junior varsity 8+ and fourth in the varsity 8+.
Kari Durgan, Karen O'Hagan and Sarah Allison all earned first-team All-WIRA honors as they guided the Bulldogs varsity 8+ to their second championship of the weekend on Sunday morning. On Friday afternoon Gonzaga won its ninth straight West Coast Conference championship. O'Hagan, a senior from Tucson, Ariz., earned her second first-team All-WIRA honor while it was the first for juniors Allison and Durgan. Allison is from Highlands Ranch, Colo., while Durgan is from Vancouver, Wash.
Senior Carolyn Schepper and sophomore Liz Sambach were named to the All-WIRA second team after the Bulldogs junior varsity 8+ captured the WIRA Grand Final. Schepper is from Sammamish, Wash., while Sambach is from Scottsdale, Ariz.
Matthew Wernette was the lone men's honoree as a member of Gonzaga's junior varsity 8+ that finished third in the WIRA Grand Final. Wernette is a sophomore from Lodi, Calif., and was a member of last year's Gonzaga freshman 4+ that finished 15th in the nation at the IRA National Championships.
The Coach of the Year honor for Gehn was the first for the Bulldogs director of rowing and head men's coach. Gehn's squad entered the WIRA championships seeded number one and finished fourth in the Grand Final by just three-tenths of a second.
Putyrae won his second WIRA Coach of the Year honor after Gonzaga won its second WIRA varsity 8+ championship in the last four years. Putyrae was also honored as the WIRA Coach of the Year in 2002 when his squad won its first WIRA title.
Gonzaga's novice crews will compete in this weekend's Opening Day Regatta in Seattle while the Gonzaga women's varsity 8+ will travel to the Pacific-10 Conference Championships on May 15. Gonzaga's men are hopeful of receiving a bid to the IRA National Championships held in early June with bids to the annual event awarded in late May.
