SARASOTA, Fla. — On the final day of the NCAA Rowing Championships, the last race of the day at Nathan Benderson Park proved to be the sweetest for Gonzaga women's rowing yet again.
GU's Varsity Eights boat cruised to a victory in the D Final by open water, finishing 5.5 seconds ahead of the closest competition with a time of 6:44.484. That finish — ahead of Northeastern, Rhode Island and Marist — earned the boat 19th place, helping to fuel a 20th-finish overall.
"Four races for us was a lot in the span of three days, especially after the year we've had," said V8 coxswain Schuyler Peters. "But to go out there and get the job done and have a complete race is something we've been searching for."
A mid-race push gave the Zags an advantage they wouldn't relinquish as they built momentum in the final 500 meters, concluding the Zags sixth-straight trip to NCAA's and the collegiate careers of six seniors on the highest note possible.
"We figured we'd be starting down," Peters said. "Northeastern comes out hard and we knew that if we just stick to our plan and go with that, we'd be good. And we dug deep, we took a couple risks and especially that middle 1K, decided to go, made it our plan and went with it and just walked on through."
Stormy conditions with potential for thunder and lightning delayed the the Grand Final and forced teams to depart the park early, but by that time all three of GU's boats had already completed their final race.
In the first race of the day after an initial rain delay pushed the start back, GU's Varsity Four crossed the finish line of the C Final with a time of 7:46.105 to take sixth and claim 18th place in Division I. Their heat featured a highly competitive field of Princeton, Navy, SMU, Alabama and Wisconsin.
GU's Second Varsity Eight came next, finishing fourth in the D Final against just under ten seconds behind heat winner Northeastern with a time of 7:06.476 that gave their boat 22nd place.
And after a season and year unlike any other, the Zags head home to Spokane with plenty to build on.
"We had anything but a solid year of training under our belts, but they found a way to compete and really laid a foundation we can build on moving out of Covid," said head coach Andrew Derrick. "I wish our seniors got to be a part of that future but we absolutely could not have seen much success this year without them and they led us through the hardest year in college sports.
"The future looks bright for Zags rowing, and I'm excited to see what we can do moving forward!"
