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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, May 30, 2008 Can UW women's crew succeed at nationals? By John Sleeper Herald Columnist The University of Washington women's crew was a bubble team this season. Following a disappointing showing at the Pacific-10 Championships, Washington faced the possibility of staying home from nationals for the first time since the NCAAs started the current championship format in 1997. Yet, here the Huskies are, ready to row starting this morning at the nationals on Lake Natoma at Rancho Cordova, Calif., near Sacramento. "It's been kind of an up-and-down season for us and I wasn't really sure that we performed well enough (at the Pac-10 meet) to get invited," UW women's head coach Bob Ernst said. "Apparently, the committee thinks we did, so here we go." Here's the horrible shape the Husky women's crews are in: The varsity eight is ranked No. 14 nationally and will take part in the 12th annual NCAA Women's Rowing Championships in Rancho Cordova, Calif., starting this morning. It was ranked as high as fourth after opening the season with a victory at the prestigious San Diego Crew Classic, where it defeated four ranked crews. The second varsity eight was undefeated in the season's first seven races. It, too, is in the NCAAs The varsity four is the Pac-10 Conference champion and is a favorite to take the national title this weekend. Egads. Put bags over their heads. But that's the way it is at Washington. The Huskies' women's rowing tradition ranks with that of any school in the country, winning at least one of the three-event national championships in six of the previous 11 NCAA regattas. The Huskies won national team titles in 1997, 1998 and 2001. Yet, even though the Huskies are back competing with the nation's elite, no one regards this group as a favorite. After the varsity eight lost by one boat length to Washington State, by two seats to Oregon State, to top-ranked Cal and finally finished fifth in the Pac-10 Championships, it all added up to a decidedly un-UW season. The Huskies' second varsity eight, which finished sixth at nationals last season, was fourth in this season's Pac-10 meet. "We had a rough performance at Pac-10s," said Erin Knox, a sophomore from Snohomish who will occupy the second varsity eight's fifth seat. "We'd done consistently well through the year and we just didn't have a great performance in the Pac-10s. The varsity and JV just didn't have the most stellar performances." To perk things up in practices the past 10 days, Ernst threw each seat open for competition. He treated the time leading up to nationals muck like a training camp. He wanted to experiment with various combinations -- anything to get more speed into his boats. In the end, Ernst dropped three from the varsity eight to the second varsity eight and moved the rest of the seats around. New coxswains occupy the varsity eight, second varsity eight and the varsity four. He also elevated three rowers from second varsity eight to the varsity eight. "We've been racing really hard, just to try to find some more speed," said Kim Armstrong, a senior from Snohomish who races in the second seat of the second varsity eight shell. "I think everyone has been putting their all into practice every day. We've been going out to practice with the idea in our minds that we're going to nationals to win." Odds are against it, but this is, after all, Washington. The program isn't without depth. And the course at Lake Natoma is familiar to the Huskies as the site of the Pac-10s. "I've been telling them all year that it takes 20 good rowers to get to go to the NCAAs and it takes 20 good rowers to win the NCAAs," Ernst said. "We may not be ready for it this year, but we're laying the groundwork for the concept. I want to win it as soon as we can and this is a good step in the right direction." Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. For Sleeper[`]s blog, "Dangling Participles," go to www.heraldnet.com/danglingparticiples.

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