In about as friendly a rivalry as two schools can have, Washington State’s women’s rowing team headed north 75 miles for a dual-affair with Gonzaga this weekend at the Head of the Spokane.

Both schools agreed to race in varsity boats of four as well as second varsity eight boats and novice eights. WSU raced its second varsity eight, five varsity four and three novice eight boats.

The WSU varsity four A boat (senior coxswain Rebecca Burns, junior Isabella Watt, sophomore Lucie Weissova, junior Luiza-Mariya Rusinova, and senior Savannah Davison) won the varsity four event in 18-minutes and 45-seconds at the four-kilometer distance, eight seconds faster than Gonzaga’s second place boat.

WSU’s varsity four B (sophomore coxswain Jenna Mangiagli, senior Kotryna Lasaite, senior Jordan Watson, senior Morgan Cathrea, and redshirt junior Kayla Wakulich) recorded the fourth fastest time at 19:13, just nine seconds off Gonzaga’s varsity four B boat.

The Cougar varsity four C (sophomore coxswain Ellie Burg, senior Kim Coon, senior Chloe Rogers, junior Mihaela-Teodora Berindei, and sophomore Emily Morrow) finished in 19:20 while the varsity D and E boats rounded out the Cougar flights with times of 20:13 and 21:30, respectively.

WSU’s third varsity eight (coxswain Burns, junior Brittany Brooks, senior Tori Gerken, junior Jill Hannink, sophomore Jenna Kennedy, senior Sarah Steger, junior Jessi Howe, junior Lori VerMurlen, and junior Hunter Jones) took on Gonzaga’s second and third varsity eights and crossed the finish line in 18:52. Gonzaga’s second varsity eight out-paced the Cougars boat by 53 seconds (17:59) while the Bulldogs third varsity eight finished behind WSU with a time of 19:10.

Head Coach Jane LaRiviere and Associate Head Coach Josh Adam launched three novice boats as well and saw many new rowers make their season debuts. WSU’s novice eight crew finished second to Gonzaga (20:44) with a time of 22:11 while the B and C boats debuted in times of 24:16 and 26:27.

WSU will round out its fall season when it returns to the water one final time before spring competition on Sunday at the Head of the Lake Regatta. The competition will be hosted by the University of Washington.

Reporting by Braden Johnson