Women’s rowing: Gonzaga wins West Coast Conference Championships

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gonzaga’s women finished the day with a win in the varsity 8 race Saturday to secure the West Coast Conference Rowing Championships title for the third time in four seasons.

The Bulldogs finished the final race in 6 minutes, 25.8 seconds to ace out runner-up San Diego (6:29.4) on Lake Natoma.

San Diego won the first two races, the varsity 4 and second varsity 8, with Gonzaga finishing second in both.

By taking the final race, GU tied San Diego with 39 points and won the tiebreaker.

“It was a lot of pressure to put on the varsity 8, but they stepped up to the challenge and got the job done,” GU head coach Glenn Putyrae said.

Gonzaga will return to the same site in two weeks for the NCAA Championships. GU placed 17th last season.

The Bulldogs swept the WCC individual awards. Putyrae was named coach of the year and Kara Soucek was tabbed rower of the year. Karly Dougherty was coxswain of the year and Lauren English was named newcomer of the year.