Bearcats Look Forward to Competing at NWC Championship Regatta

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, Ore. -- The Willamette University women's rowing team is ready to take on all four of its Northwest Conference rivals in a single race for the first time this season at the 2016 NWC Championship Regatta on Sunday, April 24 at Vancouver Lake in Vancouver, Washington. Also competing in the regatta will be Pacific Lutheran University, University of Puget Sound, Lewis & Clark College and Pacific University.

Championship Information and Directions

All five teams will have crews rowing in the women's varsity 8+. Four teams -- Willamette, Pacific Lutheran, Puget Sound, and Lewis & Clark -- will compete in the women's second varsity 8+, with UPS also entering its W3V8+. The women's novice eight+ will feature crews from Willamette, Puget Sound and Lewis & Clark.

The races involving Willamette will begin at 8 a.m. with the W2V8+. The WV8+ will follow at approximately 8:15 a.m., with the WN8+ set for 9:15 a.m.

Kyra Farr (Fr., Bellevue, WA/Newport HS) will be Willamette's coxswain in the WV8+. She will be joined by crew members Carrie Moore (So., Walla Walla, WA/South Eugene HS) at stroke, Sarah Fish (Jr., Issaquah, WA/Holy Names Academy) at 7-seat, and Hannah Puckett (Jr., Davis, CA/Davis HS) at 6-seat, with Elizabeth Crowther (Fr., Boise, ID/Boise High School) at 5-seat, Miranda Martin (So., St. Louis, MO/Ladue Horton Watkins HS) at 4-seat, Rachael Christman (Fr., Kennewick, WA/Southridge HS) at 3-seat, Julia Di Simone (So., Livermore, CA/Livermore Valley Charter Prep) at 2-seat and Anna Burdine (Fr., Seattle, WA/Mount Rainier HS) at bow.

"The varsity eight has been setting a good, positive and competitive tone heading into these next two weeks (NWC Championships and WIRA Championships)," Willamette Head Coach Reba Knickerbocker said. "For the NWC Championships the objective is clear:  All in, and leave it all on the water.

"Because our competitive opportunities are limited during our most competitive season (spring), we look at every regatta as an important one," Knickerbocker noted. "This weekend will give us an opportunity to row with more boats than we have all season, as our other races have been only two or three boats. Having boats next to us -- for us to push and for them to push us -- will be exciting."

Willamette's crew for the W2V8+ and the WN8+ will be led by Laura Polkinghorn (Fr., Camino, CA/El Dorado HS) as the coxswain. Rowers will include stroke Natalie Branch (Fr., Cupertino, California/Homestead HS), 7-seat Allison Davies (Fr., Oceanside, CA/Mission Vista HS), 6-seat Elspeth Charno (So./Fr., Port Angeles, WA/Port Angeles HS), 5-seat Clara Sims (Fr., Los Lunas, NM/School of Dreams Academy), 4-seat Brenda Mittelbuscher (Jr./So., Lafayette, CA/Acalanes HS), 3-seat Catharine Creadick (Fr., Honolulu, HI/Iolani School), 2-seat Carli Fawcett (Fr., Rancho Santa Margarita, CA/Mission Viejo HS), and bow Annie Jolliff (Fr., Chico, CA/Chico HS).

"The W2V8+, which is actually a novice eight, has bene pushing the other JV's that they have been racing against all season," Knickerbocker said. "They have gotten faster over the course of the season, and we are excited to see them extend themselves even further this weekend."

It is the second year that women's rowing has been an official NWC sport. Last season, Puget Sound won the first ever NWC women's rowing championship.