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Troll for Gold Saturday at NCRC Falcons Win 3 at Eugene; Women Seek to Extend Varsity String April 18, 2007 |
Valuable prizes. Six weeks into the rowing season and the Seattle Pacific University crews are trolling for treasure from here forward. The Falcons begin the championship portion of the campaign Saturday (Apr. 21) with the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Championships on nearby Lake Stevens. The top varsity boats for the men and women will then proceed to the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships near Sacramento the following weekend. Keep it going. Seattle Pacific has been bringing back valuable booty from the NCRC for a decade. In fact, it has won at least one women’s varsity category in each of the last 10 years. Those titles all came in the varsity open and lightweight fours and pairs. The new emphasis is on eights and the NCRC is ruled in that category by Western Washington, the two-time defending NCAA champion. Coach Keith Jefferson’s varsity four, comprised of the eight’s stern seats, is unbeaten against conference foes opposition this season. Both the men and women will row eights plus light, open and novice fours. The men seek their first conference varsity gold since 2004 (light four); they won the novice four last year. Oregon’s swell. The Falcons are coming north after spending the last two weekends in Oregon. There, they won four races in Salem’s Governor’s Cup and another three at the Covered Bridge Regatta in Eugene last week. In a steady rain on a relatively smooth surface, SPU earned its second win of the year against region rivals Humboldt State in the women’s eight last week. Their impressive wining time of 7 minutes, 7 seconds was good for a one-seat margin over the runner-up Lumberjacks. The varsity four was an easy winner over Portland, and the men's lightweight four took the title in the junior varsity four category. Elsewhere, the men’s four, missing one of its regular rowers, was a close second to Lewis & Clark, and the women’s novice four was just behind Humboldt. Crew lineups this week
Covered Bridge Regatta results
Governor’s Cup results
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SPU Coaches. Keith Jefferson has steered Seattle Pacific University into uncharted waters in national prominence during his 16-year tenure as head coach. In the past eight years alone, Jefferson’s Falcons have claimed national titles in seven events, medaled in five others and won regional crowns in 10. A past oarsman, alumnus and assistant coach, Jefferson became the fifth head coach at Seattle Pacific University in the fall of 1990. In 2003 he took a leave of absence after being called up to active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps. A lieutenant colonel in the reserves, Jefferson was n active member of the Marines from 1983-87. Jefferson succeeded Jim Schultz as coordinator of the program after serving two seasons as an assistant. A graduate of Bothell High School, Jefferson rowed for Seattle Pacific from 1979-83. He was a member of the light four which advanced to the semifinal at the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia in 1982. Keith and his wife Lori have a son, Randy, and daughter, Emma, and reside in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle. Jessica Pennington is in her fifth year as assistant. She was oarsman of the year and an all-region selection as a senior in 2001. Kip Wassink, who stroked a varsity four at Dad Vail in 1999, returns for his second season on the staff. 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. |
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