Cougars Rowers Catch ‘Crab’, Lose

Washington State University’s women’s junior varsity eight boat finished in third place Saturday at the National Collegiate Rowing Championships near Cincinnati.

Princeton won the women’s JV8 title in a time of 7 minutes, 1 second. Wisconsin finished second at 7:07 and WSU, the 1995 national champion, clocked 7:09.

Wisconsin jumped to the lead off the starting line, but all three boats were even after 30 strokes. After 60 strokes, WSU was one seat behind Princeton and two ahead of Wisconsin. The Cougars then rowed to a oneseat lead over Princeton at the 100-stroke mark.

Then the rainy and miserable afternoon became even more dreary as one of the Cougars “caught a crab,” a technical error that causes an oar to drag under the water and end up parallel to the boat instead of perpendicular.

At the halfway mark of the 2,000-meter course, WSU’s crew had to come to a dead stop to right the oar and begin again. By then, the Cougars were one complete boat length behind the other two crews.

The close finish showed that the Cougars made up ground while finishing four seats in back of the Ivy Leaguers.

“It was a technical mistake and that’s part of the sport,” said Cougars coach Tammy Crawford. “These kids were on a mission and I feel bad for them that this was the outcome. They especially wanted to prove they could do it (repeat as champions) after Friday’s varsity finish.”

WSU’s varsity eight did not make the finals and finished seventh in the national competition.