The NCAA News - News and Features

June 8, 1998

Washington's win in last race gives Huskies women's rowing crown

Washington won its second consecutive team title at the National Collegiate Women's Rowing Championship May 29-31 at Lake Lanier Rowing Club in Gainesville, Georgia.

For the second year in a row, the championship came down to the final race.

Washington, Brown and Virginia were deadlocked at 43 points apiece heading into the finals of the I eights. They were the only schools to qualify all three boats.

Facing stiff headwinds, the Huskies took a half-boat lead over Michigan and Brown after the first 100 meters. At the 500-meter mark, the Huskies led Michigan by four seats.

"We came off the line and settled down our stroke rate to 36," said Missy Collins, coxswain for Washington. "That is a little high for us, but we were pretty efficient with that rate."

The pace was too much for Michigan and Brown to handle. The Huskies won the race with a time of 6:52.0.

"We talked before the race and said that we were committed to staying out front," said Huskies senior Kelly Horton, "Today it worked for us."

In the fours, Southern California finished first with a time of 7:52.1.

The Trojans took the early lead in the race and held off Brown throughout the 2,000-meter course. Brown finished three seconds behind Southern California. North Carolina, in its first NCAA competition, took third at 7:57.6.