Sammamish varsity women’s 8+ places 4th in the nation

The Sammamish Rowing Association's Varsity Women's 8+ team had a great race in the grand final, placing a hard-fought fourth in the nation with a time of 7:04:50, just barely losing to third-place finisher Community Rowing by 0.42 seconds. Oakland won the event with a time of 6:55:30, and Marin placed second with a time of 6:57:89.

October 2, 2008 11:35 pm

The Sammamish Rowing Association’s Varsity Women’s 8+ team had a great race in the grand final, placing a hard-fought fourth in the nation with a time of 7:04:50, just barely losing to third-place finisher Community Rowing by 0.42 seconds. Oakland won the event with a time of 6:55:30, and Marin placed second with a time of 6:57:89.

The Sammamish girls took it up a notch to face the best crews in the country. They finished 10.97 seconds ahead of Cincinnati, the national champion for the past five years. They also finished 17.42 seconds ahead of regional rival Green Lake, racing well above the level displayed at the Northwest Regional Championships, where the team only beat them by 2.5 seconds.

This is the second year in a row that Sammamish has had their Varsity Women’s 8+ at the Youth Invitational. Last year the team placed fifth.

The Varsity 8+ is one of the most competitive events at any regatta as it is a reflection of a program’s depth, being able to put eight strong athletes together.

The U.S. Rowing Youth Invitational Regatta is a national championship regatta for high-school rowers where teams are invited by qualifying at regional events. It brings only the top talent from across the nation into one event to compete for national championship titles. Sammamish earned their invite by being the 2004 Northwest Regional Champion in the Varsity Women’s 8+. There were 13 varsity women’s 8+’s who earned invites to the championship. The event is held on Harsha Lake, near Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Varsity Women’s 8+ will be graduating two seniors, with Katherine Jonas going on to row at Harvard and Karin Brevick on scholarship to row at Washington State University.

Emily Downing and Kari Stenbakken from the 8+ will be attending a selection camp to try out for the U.S. Junior National Team.

Sammamish Varsity Women’s 8+ lineup (including coxswain) is: Kari Stenbakken (Eastlake), Jennifer Cromwell (Sammamish), Emily Downing (International Bellevue), Karin Brevick (Mount Si), Amy Brevick (Mount Si), Kelly Amsler (Lake Washington), Jessica Linnenkohl (home school), Katherine Jonas (Bellevue) and Katie Zagroba – coxswain (Inglemoor)

Sammamish Rowing Association is composed of athletes from schools across the Eastside. The program is coached by Kirkland Barrett who won the 2003 Northwest Region Coach of the Year.