WCC Tournament Central | Live Stream

SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga's 17th-ranked women's rowing team travels to Sacramento, Calif., to defend last season's title at the West Coast Conference Championship on Saturday.

Gonzaga's has won two of the last three WCC titles and was chosen as the preseason favorite to earn its third in the last four seasons. The league winner will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships on May 27-29 also in Sacramento on Lake Natoma.

"We are very excited to return to Lake Natoma and face the competition on Saturday," head coach Glenn Putyrae said. "We know what we have to do, and we know that our competition is going to be well prepared so our primary focus right now is on executing our race plan to the best of our ability and going as fast as we are capable. We are controlling everything that we can and doing our best not be distracted by the things that we cannot. We are excited about this opportunity to race the best in the West Coast Conference."

The WCC Championships continue an unprecedented season for Gonzaga which reached new program-bests with a No. 15 national ranking last month and a current No. 6 regional ranking.

The regional ranking marks the first time in program history GU has been in the region's top six as a team, and it comes in one of the toughest regions in the nation. In the regional rankings, Gonzaga's No. 6 spot as a team was accompanied by its Varsity 8 boat being ranked No. 6 and its Second Varsity 8 boat being ranked No. 5. Gonzaga is currently No. 17 in the US Rowing/CRCA poll.

At last season's WCC Championship, the Zags defeated second-place San Diego in a tiebreaker after earning a victory in the Varsity 8 boat to end the day. USD got the best of GU in the Varsity 4 and Second Varsity 8, but the Zags pulled into a tie with the V8 win. The conference tiebreaker rules allowed Gonzaga to earn the automatic berth to the NCAAs with the head-to-head victory in V8.

Action begins at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center at 9 a.m. with the Varsity 4, followed by the Second Varsity 8 at 9:20 a.m. and the Varsity 8 at 9:40 a.m.

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, Micailah Donner, Lily Rorick, Hannah Schneiderman, Maddie Turbes, Anna Johnson, Madeleine Verspieren, Isabelle Belzil, Hannah Brown

Varsity 4 - Megan Dennison, Casey Harder, Cameron McDermott, Georgia Davey, Clare Manthey

Second Varsity 4- Marie Hayman, Shaylee Kieffer, Olivia Lada, Megan Seifert, Amelie Tristant