SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Sacramento State women''s rowing team will serve as host of the 28-school Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships this weekend (May 4-5) on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif.Saturday''s regatta will consist of 47 races (21 on the women''s side, 26 on the men''s side), beginning at 8 a.m., and continuing to approximately 4:50 p.m. Sunday''s competition, which includes the grand finals for each event, consists of 23 races (12 on the women''s side, 11 on the men''s side). Admission to both days of the regatta are free.
The women''s varsity eight competition will begin Saturday with three heats at 12:50 p.m., 1 p.m. and 1:10 p.m., respectively. The grand final takes place Sunday at 11:45 a.m. A total of 16 schools will compete for the varsity eight championship consisting of No. 1 seed Gonzaga, No. 2 Loyola Marymount, No. 3 Sacramento State, No. 4 UC Davis, No. 5 San Diego State, No. 6 San Diego, No. 7 UC Irvine, No. 8 UC Santa Barbara, No. 9 Long Beach State, No. 10 Pacific Lutheran, No. 11 Willamette, No. 12 Santa Clara, No. 13 Humboldt State, No. 14 UC San Diego, No. 15 Chapman and No. 16 Lewis and Clark.
Sacramento State, which won last year''s varsity eight championship by five seconds, will look for its third-consecutive WIRA title. Gonzaga finished second in last year''s grand final followed by UC Davis, Western Washington, San Diego State and San Diego, respectively.
On the following three pages are Saturday and Sunday''s complete schedule and lane assignments for both the men''s and women''s competitions.
