FOLSOM, Calif. — The final day of the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championship took place on Sunday morning at Lake Natoma, and the Gaels returned for the grand finals with their varsity eight boats. Both boats improved their times from Saturday's qualifying races, putting the feather in the cap of a great weekend on the water for SMC.
 
In the first varsity eight final race, the Gaels were able to take down Santa Clara by just a shade over two seconds, posting an overall time of 7:08.9. That is their fastest time of the 2021-22 season, and an improvement of nearly 10 seconds from their first race yesterday morning. It was also a strong morning for the second varsity eight, who shaved about 3.5 seconds off their time from Saturday morning. They finished in fifth overall, but closed the gap to less than five second behind Seattle for fourth.
 
"This was an awesome weekend for the Gaels," head coach Anna Pytlak said following the weekend on Lake Natoma. "Having the Novice Four make the Petite Final [yesterday] and all boats get faster [today] was a great way to end our regular season racing. Now we will head into the next two weeks of training before the West Coast Conference Championship."
 
RESULTS
V8
Sacramento State – 6:41.4
San Diego – 6:43.4
UC San Diego – 6:50.5
Seattle – 7:06.4
Saint Mary's – 7:08.9
Santa Clara – 7:11.1
 
2V8
San Diego – 7:02.3
Sacramento State – 7:09.8
UC San Diego – 7:11.8
Seattle – 7:38.5
Saint Mary's – 7:43.1
 
LINEUPS
V8: Coxswain Camille Bischoff, 8 Emily Ferbet, 7 Emma Scanlan, 6 Katrina Heffernan, 5 Katherine Ferbet, 4 Alyssa Teague, 3 Brooklyn Cassel, 2 Isabella Brakhage, 1 Madison Ciccolella
2V8: Coxswain Madison Sciba, 8 Vivian Hsu, 7 Kendall Brazeel, 6 Olivia Watson, 5 Jessica Ponce, 4 Courtney Cassel, 3 Kiki Koeppen, 2 Lindsay Abrams, 1 Maddison Potts
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's has just one championship race left on the schedule, with the West Coast Conference Championship taking place on Saturday, May 14. The Gaels will return to Lake Natoma for the fourth time this season, giving the team plenty of familiarity with the water. Last season at the WCC Championship, Saint Mary's finished in fifth place overall and landed two rowers on the All-WCC team following the race.