SPOKANE, Wash. - The Gonzaga women's rowing team edged Oregon State by a slim margin for victory in the Varsity 8+ boat on Sunday morning at Silver Lake, Wash.

The women's top crew of Karly Dougherty, Kara Soucek, Ingrid Stansberry, Isabelle Belzil, Casey Burt, Brooklyn Beeler, Olivia Marsh, Devyn Bell and Madeleine Verspieren pushed its bow across the finish line just ahead of the Beavers by 0.59 seconds. GU crossed in a 2,000-meter time of 7:01.16 compared to 7:01.75 for OSU.

"The women's varsity 8 was a great race, really competitive," head coach Glenn Putyrae. "We are excited to beat OSU in any race. Long term, all of our crews learned something today, and hopefully we'll take what we learned and apply it to future races. For this early in the season, I think all of our boats and coaches are confident that where we are right now isn't where we are going to be, but we are encouraged by the progress. It's a good time for our program when our best can go up against their best and win, but the competitiveness of all the boats is important across the board."

In the Second Varsity 8+, Gonzaga's Heather Handy, Naomi Medley, Meghan McCallum, Megan Kramer, Micailah Donner, Lexi Legaspi, Clair Manthey, Amelie Tristant and Hannah Brown came in second with a time of 7:17.63, less than four seconds behind OSU. The Third Varsity 8+ of Sydney Matsuda-Fong, Emma Watanabe, Shaylee Kieffer, Hayley Jones, Becca Dunne, Bella Spies, Megan Seifert, Brittney Murray and Audrey Murray was 19 seconds behind OSU at 7:57.18.

The women's Varsity 4+ team of Laura Brasch, Megan Carroll, Lily Rorick, Cheryl Murbach and Natalie Potts finished 14 seconds behind OSU with a time of 8:38.11, while the Second Varsity 4+ of Megan Dennsion, Ashley Patterson, Madison Spina, Anna Johnson and Hannah Schneiderman was 17 seconds behind their OSU counterparts.

The women's crew team will take on another Pac-12 opponent in Washington State on Saturday, April 4 at Wawawai Landing, the Cougars home course.