Audrey Coon of Kenai, Casey Mapes of Anchorage and Heather Kelly of Bird Creek helped the Vikings make history. The team title is Western's fifth in a row and establishes an unprecedented string of success -- at any NCAA level -- since rowing championships were established in 1997.
For Coon, Mapes and Kelly, the women's eight title marked their 10th win in 10 races this season.
For Coon, the senior team captain who last week earned All-America recognition, it marked her third national championship.
"This is the happiest moment of my life," Coon was quoted as saying in a press release from Western Washington. "I'm really, really glad. There was a lot of anticipation, but we executed everything so perfectly, it's like the icing on the cake. It's just perfect. I'm just feeling relieved and super happy."
Coon and her teammates came from behind to beat Mercyhurst of Pennsylvania in Sunday's finals on the Cooper River in Cherry Hill, N.J. Mercyhurst led after the first 500 meters of the 2,000-meter race, but the Vikings pulled ahead in the second 500 meters and stayed ahead, winning by a boat length in 6 minutes, 52.6 seconds. Mercyhurst was second in 6:57.22.
"They did exactly what they were supposed to do all year. Every practice, every race, they did not make any mistakes. That's just phenomenal in itself. They went through every practice with intensity, it was almost perfect and they finished perfect," Western coach John Fuchs was quoted as saying in a press release.
"This is the first year that we've been undefeated. It was just a very special year."
Varsity Four
The championship was the second for Mapes, who last week was named to the national scholar-athlete team along with Coon, and Kelly.
Western was second in the fours grand final, edging third-place Mercyhurst by two seats on the last two strokes. Nova Southeastern University (Fla.) won that race in 7:53.64. Western took the team title with 18 points, followed by Mercyhurst with 13.
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