By John Sleeper
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – Kara Nykreim felt the sensation all rowers desperately crave but few achieve.
It was halfway into the 2,000-meter women’s Windermere Cup race Saturday when Nykreim felt all eight of her University of Washington turn it up a notch. For a euphoric 3 1/2 minutes, the top-ranked and defending national champion Huskies were rowing perfectly in sync, churning out maximum power and maybe, just maybe, cruising down the Montlake Cut as fast as they possibly could without the benefit of an Evinrude.
“It was awesome,” said Nykreim, a senior from Kirkland. “Our whole boat was in a zone. It was tunnel vision. And it felt easy.”
Washington outpaced second-place Stanford by a ridiculous 13 seconds, and the Great Britain under-23 boat by 17. The Huskies battled choppy waters and breezy conditions and finished the “race” in six minutes, 40.02 seconds, giving the screaming thousands of fans lining the Cut an idea that they have lost nothing in preparing for the Pacific-10 Championships May 19 in Sacramento, Calif., and the NCAA Championships May 31-June 2 at Indianapolis.
“We had an excellent performance,” said UW women’s coach Jan Harville, apparently given to vast understatement. “That means we prepared well. That means we’re improving. That means we’re putting ourselves in a position to put ourselves in a higher level.”
Washington crews won all 10 of the races that included a Husky boat. Just as impressive as the women’s varsity eight was the UW men’s varsity eight, which obliterated Stanford by nearly 14 seconds and an upstart shell from Beijing University by 49.
Feeling just fine about themselves one week after having upset three-time national champion Cal in the Bay Area, the Huskies opened up a two-boat-length advantage 500 meters into the race and poured it on. It was a powerful performance by a crew that coach Bob Ernst says is his best in his 15 years as head coach at Washington.
“We have just one goal in mind, and that’s the last race of the year,” said Ernst, referring to the Intercollegiate Rowing Championships May 31-June 2 at Camden, N.J.
Although Stanford and Beijing University will never be confused with Cal, Washington rowed as though it was going up against the Golden Bears. It was an awesome display of power by a physically imposing crew. Five Husky rowers are 6-foot-4 or taller and six weigh 205 pounds or more.
“When you have an opportunity to perform in front of your home crowd, we’re not holding anything back,” Ernst said.
Maybe, but it was little more than a warm-up before another meeting against Cal, a crew with six Olympians in the boat, at the Pac-10 regatta.
“It won’t mean a heck of a lot if we don’t get it done in a couple weeks at the Pac-10s,” UW rower Chris Hawkins said.
Washington men’s and women’s junior varsity eights swept the Dick Erickson Memorial Cascade Cup races, named after the longtime Husky coach who died July 2001.
Australian Duncan Free defeated 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist Xeno Muller in the Windermere Challenge Cup, a match race between two of the best scullers in the world. Free won by more than six seconds.
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