South, then east. If the conference races were an accurate barometer, Seattle Pacific University should bring home a veritable treasure trove of medals from this weekend's Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships near Sacramento. The Falcon men's and women's teams, who collected five first-place finishes out of seven starts at the conference regatta last week, will meet their NCRC rivals along with other crews from throughout Washington, Oregon, California and Colorado on Lake Natoma. The women's varsity four, lightweight four and possibly the men's varsity pair will depart next week for national championships back east.

The team to beat. One measure of success in rowing is whether the coxswain gets tossed into the water after the crew comes ashore and for the past couple years at the WIRA, the SPU boat jockeys have failed to stay dry. The Falcons won regional titles in the women's varsity lightweight four, varsity pair and novice four in 2002 and won two titles, including the men's light four, the previous year. A year agoSeattle Pacific's lineup of the lineup of Sarah Zorn (So., Mercer Island, Wa./Lahser), Shannon Buehler (So., Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower), Heidi Visser (So., Wenatchee, Wa./Wenatchee) and Andi Martineau (Jr., Superior, Mt./Superior) claimed a 9-second win over Gonzaga at the WIRA en route to a national title in the novice four category. This time around, they are a varsity crew with five wins in six outings. The women's light four is 5-0 this season despite sometimes competing with open junior varsity fours. The men's pair of Tyler Van Stright (Jr., Grand Rapids, Mi./GR Christian) and Reid Shipley (Sr., Escondido, Ca./San Pasqual) is 3-0 this spring.

NCRC recap. For the fifth year in a row SPU captured the women's varsity crown at the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference Championships last weekend on Lake Stevens. The Falcons also proved victorious in the women's light four and men's varsity pair, light four and novice four. Interim head coach Jessie Pennington, whose women's four suffered its first defeat the previous week to Willamette, said that crew was determined to emerge victorious. Seattle Pacific maintained a two-seat edge over runner-up Pacific Lutheran to win by 2.2 seconds while Willamette was fourth. The men's light four gained enough of an edge in the final 10 strokes to defeat Willamette by 0.36 seconds. That and the other two wins marked the first for the Falcon men at the conference level in two years. Martineau, the bow seat in the women's varsity four, and Joel Braman (Jr., Wyoming, Mi./Calvin Christian), the stroke of the men's light four, were each named to the all-conference team. SPU took fourth overall in the final men's team standings and the women were sixth. Puget Sound took home both team titles.

NCRC Championship Results

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.