No. 15 Women's Crew Third At Pac-10s
May 14, 2000
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - - The No. 15 Oregon State women's varsity eight rowed to a third-place finish at the Pacific-10 Championships on Sunday in Sacramento, Calif., with a time of 6:39.8 in the Grand Final.
OSU came from behind after the first 500 meters to move into third place, just ahead of USC.
"I was hoping we would finish third," OSU coach Charlie Owen said. "I knew we had a shot, but we were expected to finish fourth, behind USC, so it was a bit of an upset.
"We got out well, but were still behind in the first 500 meters because the other boats just got out quicker. We were down to USC, but at about the 1,000-meter mark, we got our stroke rate up and moved through the other boats. Hopefully, we made a strong case for going to the NCAAs."
Top-ranked Washington edged out No. 5 California with a time of 6:27.5 to win the Championship.
The second varsity eight did not fare so well, as they finished fifth in the face of a strong headwind.
"This race was a bit disappointing," Owen said. "We thought they'd do a little better, but a headwind always gives them problems, and they just didn't make the adjustments."
OSU's novice eight came through with a strong second-place showing and a time of 7:28.6 to finish second to Washington. In OSU's preliminary heat, the novice eight defeated the top-ranked Huskies by 1.4 seconds with a time of 6:51.7.
"This was a good race for them," Owen said. "I'm excited about the novices coming into our program in the future."
If selected, OSU will race next in the NCAA Championships May 26-28 in Camden, N.J.
RESULTS (not all times were available)
VARSITY EIGHT (GRAND FINAL) - 1. Washington 6:27.5, 2. California 6:29.6, 3. Oregon State 6:39.8, 4. USC 6:43.1, 5. Washington State 6:50.8, 6. Sacramento State 6:54.6.
SECOND VARSITY EIGHT - Oregon State 5th.
NOVICE EIGHT - Oregon State 2nd.
VARSITY FOUR - Oregon State 5th.
