The vibes were good in the first Invitational the WSU rowing team competed in for their pre-season.

“I really like the vibe of the team, everyone seems to be working hard and the comradery is good,” head coach Jane LaRiviere said.

The Cougs competed at the Burnaby Small Boat Invitational. Instead of the traditional boat sizes that are sponsored for the NCAA season, the Small Boat Invitational competes in boats of two and four.

“It’s a different thing that we are used to. NCAA only sponsors eights and fours and the Burnaby race was strictly twos and fours. It was good to train and compete,” LaRiviere said.

While not the greatest placements for the team, it is good practice for the team and will do nothing but help the team in the long run. Junior Ilaria Macchi and freshman Siena Snow had the best placement for the Cougs, placing second in the 250-meter sprint just behind a duo from University of British Columbia.

They had a time of 53.208, which was a mere .401 seconds behind the first-place finishers, a very strong start for the duo to begin their seasons.

“Siena and Ilaria both raced internationally over the summer, so they looked very prepared for the race,” LaRiviere said.

Alongside the duo of Macchi/Snow, two other boats placed in the top 15 of the pairs 4-kilometer race and had several strong performances throughout all duos.

With the performances of the small boat invitational and with seeing how the team has performed so far in practice, coach Lariviere is still staying in the present moment.

“The initial goal is always to get to [the] postseason. It’s a little bit early to know what’s achievable. We won’t really know anything about realistic expectations until April,” Lariviere said.

LaRiviere has been the coach since 2002 and is the second coach in the history of the program since it was officially recognized as a varsity sport at WSU. It has allowed her to establish connections with international pools of talent, something that is incredibly important to a sport like rowing.

“When I showed up here in 2002 I was a good fit for the university and the town. I didn’t look at [WSU] as a stepping stone and rather as a career spot. We have pipelines from certain international places, which is helpful,” LaRiviere said.

Next up for WSU rowing is the Head of the Spokane race on Saturday. They then have a two-week break before heading to Lake Natoma in Gold River, California to compete in the Head of the American race.