WIRA Championship
The Coug’s headed south to Sacramento in a extremely successful trip. For the first time in 15 years the team won the WIRA Team Points Trophy! Putting on display depth and the overall skills of the current team of athletes. The weekend was full of medals for the Cougs and highlighting all of them would be the Men’s Varsity Lightweight 4 who won gold by a margin of 30+ seconds. Both the mens first and second novice 8’s walked away with Bronze Medals, the Men’s Novice Lightweight 4 walked away with silver medals. The Men’s Varsity 8’s both showed a huge improvement from the past week after hosting Gonzaga and they showed off a huge improvement in times as a team. Overall was a very successful weekend for the team which showed a large improvement in the teams growth from previous years and the amount of fitness and ability the team has developed throughout the season. The team is looking forward to ACRA and seeing how much speed on the table we can grab between now and then.
Mens Varsity 8+ Crossing the line in the final with a time of 6:00.019
Athlete Recaps
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Ethan Almaraz '26, Lightweight 4+ 2 Seat:
"The lightweight four went out with the goal of rowing clean and together, emphasizing technique over power. I knew every guy in that boat was backing each other, with our coxswain Natalia steering a great course. She set us up to finish strong—not just to win, but to make a statement about how well we can row as one."
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Finley Luther '27, Coxswain, Men's 2v8+:
"Heading into the weekend, we knew we had a real shot at medaling at WIRAs. We raced hard in the heat, walking back six seats on Orange Coast College to secure second in our heat and the third-best time overall. In the final, we raced to our limit, walking down Orange Coast and UC Davis, and finishing fourth—just two seconds behind UCLA. I couldn’t be prouder of our progress as a crew. The times we’re consistently laying down set a new standard for the 2V, and we believe there’s still significant speed to unlock heading into ACRAs."
