Women's Varsity 4+ Places Fourth at Lewis & Clark Invitational

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

VANCOUVER, WASH. -- The women's varsity 4+ crew from Willamette University took fourth place at the Lewis & Clark Invitational, held at Vancouver Lake on Saturday, April 5. The regatta was held in light wind as well as light rain, with some chop on the water and the temperature in the high 40s.

Willamette registered a time of 9:05.4 in the WV4+ against quality competition. The race included two teams from the University of Portland, which competes in NCAA Division I, plus club teams from NCAA Division I members Portland State University and the University of Oregon.

The University of Portland "A" crew won the race in 8:42.0. Portland State finished just over a second later in 8:43.3 to claim second place. The University of Oregon was third at 9:01.4. Following Willamette by 28.8 seconds was the Portland "B" crew in fifth place at 9:34.2.

Rachel Robinson (Jr., Bellevue, WA/Bellevue HS) was the coxswain of the Willamette WV4+. She was joined in the shell by stroke Katy Wallner (Jr., Petaluma, CA/Petaluma HS), 3-seat Hannah Puckett (Fr., Davis, CA/Davis HS), 2-seat Molly Pritchard (Fr., Medford, OR/South Medford HS) and bow Sarah Fish (So., Seattle, WA/Holy Names Academy).

In addition, Willamette placed third out of three teams in its heat of the women's varsity 8+. The Bearcat crew featured four rowers in their first competitive season. The Portland WV8+ won the heat in 7:44.7, while the University of Puget Sound was second at 8:01.9. Willamette's time was 9:09.0.

The Bearcats in the WV8+ were Puckett at stroke, Pritchard at 7-seat, Wallner at 6-seat, Bea McAlister (So., Kenmore, WA/Inglemoor HS) at 5-seat, Fish at 4-seat, Emily Rolin (Fr., Richmond, RI/Chariho HS) at 3-seat, Lily Dunbar (Fr., Oakland, CA/Oakland Technical HS) at 2-seat and Jenny Duren (Fr., Redmond, WA/Inglemoor HS). Robinson served as the coxswain.

Lewis & Clark won the other heat in the WV8+, as the Pioneers finished in 7:40.2 to hold off Pacific Lutheran University, which took second at 7:41.7. Oregon was third in 8:07.7

Four teams advanced to the final, which was won by Portland with a time of 7:19.3. Puget Sound was second in 7:23.5, with Lewis & Clark in third at 7:25.0 and Pacific Lutheran in fourth at 7:36.8.