Lake Natoma, Calif. - The Gonzaga women's rowing team makes the trip to Lake Natoma, Calif., for the Lake Natoma Invitational on Saturday and Sunday.

The site of this year's West Coast Conference Championships, Gonzaga will place five different boats on the water over the course of the two days. In the morning session Saturday, GU will take on Brown and Sacramento State in a three-boat race with its Varsity 8+, Second Varsity 8+ and Varsity 4+ beginning at 8:10 a.m. The Second Varsity 4+ will wrap the morning session at 9:40 a.m.

In the afternoon session Saturday, the Third Varsity 8+ will open at 3:30 p.m. against Sacramento State and California. The three teams from the morning session will be back on the water again, this time facing Cal and Loyola Marymount.

"This is a great opportunity to race two of the best teams in the country - No. 2 Brown and No. 3 Cal," head coach Glenn Putyrae said. "Our approach is about going out and seeing how fast we can go, to see how that compares to some of the best. We are familiar with the venue, but it'll be the first time racing these teams in the regular season in a long time. It's a great test for us."

The regatta will wrap up Sunday with Gonzaga facing defending WCC champ San Diego and Notre Dame across the Varsity 4+, Varsity 8+ and Second Varsity 8+ boats. It starts for the Zags at 8:30 a.m. with the Varsity 4+.

The 2,000-meter race course takes place on Lake Natoma just outside of Sacramento, Calif., along the American River.

Gonzaga Women

Varsity 8+ - Karly Dougherty, Kara Soucek, Ingrid Stansberry, Isabelle Belzil, Devyn Bell, Brooklyn Beeler, Maddie Turbes, Casey Burt, Olivia Marsh

Second Varsity 8+ - Heather Handy, Ashley Patterson, Clare Manthey, Alexis Legaspi, Meghan McCallum, Anna Johnson, Madeleine Verspieren, Micailah Donner, Hannah Brown

Third Varsity 8+ - Hailey Rousseau, Hayley Jones, Natalie Potts, Megan Kramer, Madison Spina, Cheryl Murbach, Shaylee Kiefer, Amelie Tristant, Megan Seifert

Varsity 4+ - Laura Brasch, Megan Carroll, Lily Rorick, Emma Watanabe, Hannah Schneiderman

Second Varsity 4 - Hailey Rousseau, Amelie Tristant, Natalie Potts, Megan Kramer, Shaylee Kieffer

Directions to Lake Natoma

From Sacramento International Airport:

Follow the airport exit signs. Take I-5 South toward downtown Sacramento. Take the Highway

50 East exit heading toward South Lake Tahoe and take the Hazel Avenue exit (Rancho Cordova

area). Left at Hazel heading North, make the next right turn to enter the Nimbus Flats/Lake

Natoma Park. The CSUS Aquatic Center is the next right past the park entrance at Gold Country

Boulevard.

Directions from Highway 80:

Heading West from Auburn or East from Sacramento or San Francisco take the Sierra College

exit (in the City of Rocklin) and turn South on Sierra College. In about 6 miles Sierra College

becomes Hazel Avenue, continue South through the town of Orangevale and finally across the

American River. The first left after the river at Gold Country Boulevard is the CSUS Aquatic

Center. The second left after the river is the entrance to Nimbus Flats State Park and Lake

Natoma.

From Downtown and Highway 50 East:

Heading West from Lake Tahoe or East from Sacramento or San Francisco take the Hazel

Avenue exit (Rancho Cordova area). Left at Hazel heading North, make the next right turn to

enter the Nimbus Flats State Park and Lake Natoma. The CSUS Aquatic Center is the next right