The 2024 National Collegiate Athletics Associations’ Women’s Rowing Championships will be held from Friday, May 31, through Saturday, June 1, on Lake Harsha in East Fork State Park in Bethel, Ohio. Seattle Pacific University’s women’s rowing team will compete in the Varsity 8+ and Varsity 4+ races

The announcement of SPU qualifying for the championship was released on Tuesday, May 21. It was a welcome surprise for the team after they placed fourth overall at the 2024 Great Northwest Athletics Conference’s Women’s Rowing Championships on Saturday, May 18.

Head coach for women’s rowing Caitlin McClain recalled the team’s atmosphere while waiting for the announcement as “cautiously optimistic.”

“We knew we were in a strong position to get an at-large bid because we raced the East and the South regions at the Knecht Cup earlier in the year, but being fourth as a team in our conference [behind the University of Central Oklahoma] definitely put in some question marks,” McClain said. “The reaction was cautiously optimistic and hopeful that we would have the chance to race again and be able to prove our speed.”

The Falcons will fly out from Seattle on Tuesday, May 28, and will have a couple of days to practice on the course. During that window, McClain hopes to narrow the lineup for the boats competing in the championships.

“It’s a quick turnaround. Our region definitely has the latest announcement of the qualifiers,” McClain said. “We are looking at adjusting lineups, and we’ve been spending the last couple of days looking at different speeds of our athletes to see if we can make a couple of changes that will result in a faster 8+ or 4+, or trying to balance those both since they both earn points.”

Regardless of who might end up in the final boat, assistant coach for women’s rowing McKenzie Waltar is confident in each team member to row at their best with whoever is by their side.

“We’ve had a lot of close races this year, and so I’m hoping the girls feed off of that and say, ‘Okay, it’s not a close race this time. We’re going to push for it,’” Waltar said. “Even though we’re in the process of figuring out the precise lineups, these girls rowed together all year in various lineups.”

Senior applied human biology major Natalie Korolenko, who sits in the stroke seat for the Varsity 8+ boat, shared that the team’s mentality in approaching the NCAAs is to leave everything in the water.

“The greatest moment motivator is that I want to go out there and leave nothing behind, no regrets, no holding anything back and to take in every moment,” Korolenko said. “It’s going to be some pretty hard races, but I’m trying to enjoy the moment because I know I’ll miss it in the future.”

Senior business management and communications double major Hannah Miller, who sat in the bow seat of the GNAC lineup, expanded on this mentality, citing the Falcons’ history at the NCAAs.

“The last time we brought home a trophy for NCAAs was in 2010 when we placed second. We want to go after that, maybe even get first,” Miller said. “Our goal this year is to get a trophy. We just need to find it within us to do that. Coach has been searching high and low throughout practice these last few days to bring it out in us, and we’ve been able to really come together as a team and sync up.”

Such is the case with every team entering the championship, the pressure is on, but Miller and Korolenko trust deeply in their teammates’ and Coach McClain.

“I trust my coaches. I know that they’re going to put the best boats forward. We know to trust Coach Caitlin, put our heads down and row hard,” Miller said. “The biggest part of our team is we’re all out there helping each other to remember why we’re here: because of the girls who came before us, the girls who are coming after us and the girls who are on the team now.”

At the end of the postseason, amid a shot at the championship title, all anyone can ask of themselves and their team is their best. So long as their best is given, a reward will follow.

“It’s the team’s goal to be on the podium of NCAAs. After third place last year— which unfortunately is just outside the acknowledgments, they only do the top two— we just felt like we wanted to do everything we could to put the team in the best position to earn a medal and maybe even a national title,” McClain said. “It’s not outside the realm of possibility, so we’re hoping third time’s the charm. The athletes are motivated and want to give everything they have.”