The Washington State women’s rowing team has attained one goal – a top 10 ranking – and is heading into their toughest test of the season this weekend at the Clemson Invitational. The Cougars will race against six ranked teams including No.1 Ohio State, the 2014 NCAA Champions.

Head Coach Jane LaRiviere embraces the challenge of racing against the nation’s elite programs – to be the best you have to compete and beat the best.

“Our ultimate goal is to be at the NCAA Championships at the end of May, and we get to see a lot of top, quality, teams and seven-boat races,” LaRiviere said Tuesday during her weekly press conference. “I don’t think there’s anything easy about this, but that’s not why we row. With a three-race weekend, it’s got to be internal and it’s got to be about improving small things each time you go out. We can’t speed anybody up, or slow anybody down, but we can look out for ourselves.”

WSU will race against No.4 Virginia, No.14 Texas, No.15 Harvard, No. 18 Oregon State, No.20 Minnesota, and nine other teams including Oklahoma, who they’ve already raced this season. The Cougars swept the Sooners in three races on Sunday, March 29, to conclude the Pac-12 Challenge.

Since then, the Cougars have been on cruise control. However, their internal motivation serves as a reminder that just because they beat Oklahoma before doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee they will again. The goal, however, is to better their times each week and that’s the mindset for senior Savannah Davison.

“We beat them the first time so it would be nice to improve that margin and make it even larger,” Davison said on facing the Sooners again. “I think we’ve just been working on our confidence all season. I think it culminated in that race – that confidence helped us beat them.”

With the loss last weekend to No.5 Washington, the Cougars have maintained their focus on themselves. What they can do to enhance their race plan, and not worry about their opponent. For senior Mickey Aylard, the goal is to improve and this week she’s seen her boat take significant strides to do just that.

“Honestly I think all parts of the race plan we can keep perfecting, and the last couple days have been really good,” Aylard said on possible improvements from the first weekend to this weekend. “That middle thousand we keep focusing on … but we have to keep getting faster because the field keeps getting faster. I’m really excited to see what we do this weekend.”

The Clemson Invitation begins Saturday at 5:14 a.m. for the Cougars. Results will be posted on Twitter @ClemsonRowing as the races conclude.