Zags Place 20th at the NCAA Championships

Sunday, June 2

Indianapolis, IN

Gonzaga University

NCAA

Photo by: Justin Casterline

6/2/2019 10:54:00 AM | Women's Rowing

All three boats post fastest times of the weekend

INDIANAPOLIS – The Gonzaga women's rowing team completed the 2018-19 season Sunday afternoon finishing 20th at the NCAA Championships at the Indianapolis Rowing Center at Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis.

Gonzaga's varsity eight took first in the D Final to place 19th overall, while the second varsity eight finished third in the D Final (22nd overall) and the varsity four claimed second, also in the D Final (20th overall).

"It was an amazing opportunity to race at the national championship, and we are so grateful for all the hard work from our senior class," said head women's rowing coach Marisa Wortman. "I know the returners are looking forward to continuing to build on this season's successes."

The Bulldogs' varsity eight dominated the D Final, taking an early lead on Northeastern, Rhode Island and Marist. Gonzaga continued to push throughout, extending its lead to more than a boat length. The Zags finished the 2,000-meter course in 6:27.391, the fastest time for the varsity eight this season and five seconds short of the program's NCAA record of 6:22.306.

"Going into it, we were just really excited to get off the start line really quickly and keep that lead for the rest of the race," senior rower Olivia Lada said. "I think we did that. We wanted to make sure we didn't fall off at the end, even if we were ahead, and we didn't do that."

Though the second varsity eight race did not end in Gonzaga's favor, the Bulldogs finished in third place with a season-best time of 6:45.029. The Zags battled choppy waters throughout but capitalized on a consistent tailwind throughout the course.

"We didn't get exactly the result that we wanted out of the season; we were a little late to the start, had a really good warm-up, but the two boats just got ahead of us out of the start," senior rower Kayla Buchmeier said. "That was kind of a bummer. We stuck with them for most of the race and fought the whole way. I'm really proud of how, this whole weekend, we've been fighting to put ourselves on a really high level."

In the varsity four D Final, Gonzaga had a slow start but made up for it in the second 1,000 meters. Trailing Marist, the Bulldogs made a push and overtook the Red Foxes for second place in a time of 7:40.689. Harvard won the D Final with a time of 7:34.218.

"This was a super exciting race," 'junior coxswain Samone Sims said. "We were up against Harvard and also Marist. We didn't have as quick of a start off the line, and we kind of hung back for the first thousand. But we were able to walk all the way through Marist in that second thousand; that was just really exciting."

The Bulldogs will return a solid group for the 2019-20 season including three-time WCC Coxswain of the Year Alexa Jadallah, reigning Newcomer of the Year Grace Cahalane and All-WCC performers Lauren McCallum and Zoe Calambokidis.

Varsity 8
RESULTS