The WSU women’s rowing team has been one of the most successful varsity sports teams on campus. With seven NCAA championships in the last 12 years and a 14th place team finish at the NCAA Championships last season, the Cougars feel more can be done to continue their success on the water.

In order to continue the success, the team will rely on leader Mickey Aylard, a senior from British Columbia who competed over the summer with the Canadian National Team in the World Championships in Italy.

“We worked really hard last year but we didn’t quite place the way that we wanted to I think at the end of the season,” Aylard said. “Everyone is seeing how much work it took last year to get there and I think we are all ready for the challenge to step it up and be vying for the national championship by May.”

Although the regular season doesn’t begin for a few months, the fall serves as a sort of preseason to the team as they prepare for the season and championships in the spring.

Head coach Jane LaRiviere feels very optimistic about the upcoming season as well.

“The team has a very strong commitment this season,” LaRiviere said. “Although we graduated a lot of seniors, the former juniors and sophomores are very talented and are ready to fill the shoes left by the graduated seniors.”

Even in the wake of the impressive finish in the NCAA championships last year, the team is hungry for the championship, and the tight team bond with members from freshman to the senior leaders both on and off the water.

“We are driven. We are competitive. We are motivated. I think a big one is we are dedicated to working really hard together as a family. So we support each other and we all look out for each other not just in rowing but in all other aspects of our life; social life, school life and we are all really dedicated to getting as fast as we can and helping each other out as much as we can,” Aylard said.

The team is not only united and ready to face competition; they also compete under the same mentality as Aylard does.

“I want to be faster than I was last season, I want to try and put in more time, more kilometers in on the erg, on the water, in Bohler, to be stronger and faster than I was at this point last year because then that will put me faster in the spring, and if I can be faster in the spring then I can help the Cougs be faster in the spring,” Aylard said. “And that’s the ultimate goal.”

Being faster is the ultimate goal for the entire team and coaching staff, and with the addition of talented freshman on the foundation of solid, established juniors and seniors the program will continue to thrive.

“Another year of experience that many members of the team have received will show in the spring, and seven or eight people rowed all summer so they will be very prepared,” LaRiviere said.