The women’s rowing team continues to be one of the most successful at Washington State, and its recent No. 14 national ranking is clear evidence of that.

After handily defeating Gonzaga in their first dual action of the spring season, the Cougars take their talents to San Diego tomorrow to compete in the San Diego Crew Classic at San Diego’s Mission Bay.

“We just want to build on the race we had a couple of weeks ago against Gonzaga,” WSU Head Coach Jane LaRiviere said in a press release. “It was a pretty good first outing, but we have to get faster.”

Washington State will face some of the premiere college crews in the country including nationally ranked California (second), Washington (fourth), USC (sixth), and UCLA (10th).

This weekend will mark the 41st year of the regatta. As one of the largest regattas in the world, held for eight-oared rowing shells, it takes place on a 2,000-meter course that begins near the Sea World towers and finishes at the Crown Point Shore.

The race features high school junior programs, collegiate teams, master’s clubs, and Olympic-level competition with more than 4,000 athletes competing in close to 100 races.

The regatta has two or three opening heats for each event, and the top three teams (for two-heat events) or two teams (for three-heat events) will advance to the Grand Final. For the two-heat events, the next three finishers advance to the Petite Final if scheduled, and the following two finishers advance to the Third Final if scheduled.

The Cougars will compete in: the Women’s Collegiate Varsity Invitational, Jessop- Whittier Cup; the Women’s Collegiate Varsity four (4+), Karen Plumleigh Cortney Cup; the Women’s Collegiate 2V, Jackie Ann Stitt Hungness Trophy; and the Women’s Collegiate Novice, Laurel Korholz Perpetual Trophy.

“It looks really competitive and really tough as usual,” LaRiviere said, adding the biggest competition will be the Pac-12 schools slated to participate. “With each passing week we have to take care of the things that we identify race-to-race and improve to go faster. This crowd is a really good group to work with. They have been working really hard and it is nice to see them coming together in their various boats.”