Pioneers oust Mills to take third in the Northwest Conference Championships

Posted: Apr 20, 2019

VANCOUVER, Wash. -- The Lewis & Clark Pioneers hosted the Northwest Conference Championships and Rainier Cup on Saturday morning on Vancouver Lake, facing off against rivals Pacific Lutheran, Puget Sound, Pacific University, and Mills College. The women's team competed in the Northwest Conference Championships, ousting Mills in the varsity eight race to finish third overall. The men competed in the Rainier Cup, finishing in an extremely close second to Puget Sound in the varsity eight, but dominating the varsity four event.

Seniors Natalie Stroud and Liana Clary were nominated for all-conference awards.

Key Moments

The Pioneers raced four women's crews and three men's crews over the course of the morning. The men's novice four was the first to race, finishing third of three. Christian Ermann and Soren Gotschall doubled out of the novice four to then race in the men's varsity eight race. The eight, comprised of Owen Wholforth, Nick Campen, Zach Dworkin, Jack Heppner, Quinn Vinlove, Gotschall, Ermann, jamie Valtin and coxswain Maggie Coit came in a close second to Puget Sound after a bow to bow race the entire way down the course. The Pios exchanged the lead with the Loggers multiple times before running out of river in the sprint. They finished in a time of 6:32.3 to the Logger's 6:31.1.

The women's varsity eight race was five boats across, with Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran fighting for first while the Pios battled with the Mills Cyclones for third. After a tight first thousand, the Pioneers were able to walk away from the Cyclones in the second half of the race, finishing ahead by nine seconds and multiple boat lengths. The boat consisted of coxswain Liana Clary, Natalie Stroud, Camille Wong, Allie Traeger, Kess Moulton, Katie Crocker, Lindsay Woodward, Sarah Lind-MacMillan, and Skylin Alcorn.

The late morning racing saw the men's varsity four, men's lightweight four, women's lightweight novice four, and women's novice four take to the course. The lightweight men competed in the varsity race, finishing in fourth against their heavier opponents. Most rowers doubled out of the eight, with Vinlove, Valtin, and Ermann racing again with Kyle Mezrahi and novice coxswain Shaina Zins. The openweight men including Wholforth, Heppner, Dworkin, Campen, and coxswain Coit placed first over both Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran, finishing in a time of 7:10.1, at least 11 seconds faster than second place. The women's novice race had similar results, with the lightweights placing fourth, 20 seconds ahead of Pacific. Catherine Pendleton-Wheeler stroked the boat, followed by Tiffani Wong, Amanda Henrickson, and Sofia Green, coxed by Kat Altaffer. The openweight novice women dominated the event, finishing 13 seconds ahead of Puget Sound in second place. The women all doubled from the eight, with Alcorn, Lind-Macmillan, Woodward, and Crocker racing with coxswain Mia Babasyan.

Deeper Look

Natalie Stroud and Liana Clary were both named all-conference athletes for Lewis & Clark
Skylin Alcorn, Sarah Lind-MacMillan, Katie Crocker, Lindsay Woodward, and Mia Babasyan won the first race of their careers together in the women's novice four
Christian Ermann raced three times in every possible event for the men, racing in two separate fours as well as the varsity eight
Soren Gotschall was moved into the stroke seat of the men's novice four
The men's varsity four was only .03 seconds off their time from the Collegiate Covered Bridge Regatta