Best of the Northwest. Seattle Pacific University and other crews from three states will converge on Lake Stevens, Wa., Saturday (Apr. 26) for the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Championships. The Falcons will be joined by rowers from Evergreen, Humboldt State, Lewis & Clark, Pacific Lutheran, Puget Sound, Seattle University, Western Washington and Willamette. Next week, SPU competes in the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships near Sacramento.

Time for payback? Seattle Pacific will be defending three women's event titles, including the varsity four, where the Falcons have won a string of four straight NCRC championships. Interestingly, SPU will get a rematch with Willamette in the varsity four final. Last week the Bearcats won by a boat-length at the Blue Heron Redwood Sprints, snapping a 16-race win streak by that particular cast of rowers. The Falcons will also defend titles in the women's junior varsity and novice fours. The men's last conference title came in the 2001 lightweight four. Interim head coach Jessie Pennington's complete list of entries also includes men's and women's light fours plus a men's novice four and varsity pair. There will be no men's varsity four entered.

Once beaten. Despite the fact that the women's four finished out of first place for the first time in five races this season, the Falcons did win the women's junior varsity, lightweight and novice fours to take fourth place overall in the team standings behind Willamette, host Humboldt State and California. The SPU men, runners-up in the varsity four, light four and novice four, were third after Cal and Willamette. The same four women's varsity four rowers had gone 12-0 as novices but could not catch Willamette in the sprint. However, the JV four remained undefeated, beating Mills by a boat-length, and the same crew came back to win the light four race by a bow over Willamette.

Blue Heron Redwood Sprints Results

Lineups

SPU Coaches. Keith Jefferson has steered Seattle Pacific University into uncharted waters in national prominence during his 12-year tenure as head coach. In the past four years alone, Jefferson's Falcons have claimed national titles in four events, medaled in four others and won regional crowns in seven. A past oarsman, alumnus and assistant coach, Jefferson became the fifth head coach at Seattle Pacific University in the fall of 1990. This spring he has taken a leave of absence after being called up to active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps. An active member of the Marines from 1983-87, Jefferson, a major in the reserves, will retire from the reserves upon his return in June. Jessica Pennington, assistant to Jefferson for the past year, will serve as interim head coach. She will be assisted by Trisha Sawatzky. Pennington was oarsman of the year and an all-region selection as a senior in 2001 when she rowed in the national title varsity four. Sawatzky was a member of last year's national championship pair, all-region pick and SPU co-athlete of the year. Under Jefferson, the Falcons have emerged as a regional force in small college rowing. Both men's and women's boats have proved competitive at the national level in recent years. The women's varsity four won back-to-back Avaya Collegiate Championships in 2000 and 2001 after placing third in 1999. Sawatzky and Kimberly Tschetter won the varsity pair title in 2002 along with the novice four. The men's four finished fifth in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association in 1995, the lightweight four was second at Dad Vail in 2000 and the novice four third in 2001. Regionally, Jefferson's fleet has medaled 18 times at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association and Pacific Coast Rowing Championships, including seven golds. SPU has totaled 36 Northwest Collegiate Rowing titles since 1994, punctuated by the school's first overall conference women's crown in 2001.

Missing links. For the latest and best information on Seattle Pacific University athletics, stay where you're at -- on The Falcons Online. For updated standings and statistics, see the Great Northwest Athletic Conference web site.