LAKE NATOMA, Calif. – The Portland Pilots took fourth at the 2023 WCC Rowing Championship on Saturday at Lake Natoma, with the varsity four and second varsity eight taking fourth in their races and the varsity eight taking third. The races saw some of the fastest times in program history from Pilot boats at the event.
 
The varsity four finished fourth with a time of 7:51.309. Abbey McHugh was the Coxswain while Gabriela Garcia was the stroke. The second varsity eight had Clarissa Gutierrez as the cox while Veronica Conklin served as the stroke, finishing fourth with a time of 7:01.396.
 
The varsity eight had the top finish of any Pilot squad at third place with a time of 6:45.143. Maddie Olson was the stroke while Dawon Lee was the coxswain. Olson and Cushing also earned All-WCC honors, with this being the first time Cushing has done so and the third time for Olson.
 
This is the third time the Pilots have raced at Lake Natoma for the WCC Championships, with this year seeing the Pilots posting their best times in program history for the event. Portland's varsity eight posted their fastest time, beating 2019's race by over three seconds (6:48.317). The second varsity eight's time was faster by almost 20 seconds than the previous fastest time in 2018 (7:20.795) while the varsity four's time was just under a second faster than the 2018 time (7:52.038).
 
Below are the full results from the 2023 WCC Rowing Championship.
 
2023 WCC ROWING CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
 

FINAL 2023 WCC CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
PLACE	SCHOOL	POINTS
1.	Gonzaga	42
2.	San Diego	33
3.	LMU	30
4.	Portland	27
5.	Creighton	18
6.	Saint Mary's	12
--	Santa Clara	0

 
FIRST VARSITY FOUR OFFICIAL RESULTS

1. Gonzaga, 7:31.386
2. LMU, 7:40.781
3. San Diego, 7:42.989
4. Portland, 7:51.309
5. Creighton, 7:53.964
6. Saint Mary's, 8:28.394
7. Santa Clara, 8:54.699 

SECOND VARSITY EIGHT OFFICIAL RESULTS

1. Gonzaga, 6:45.61
2. LMU, 6:52.918
3. San Diego, 6:55.621
4. Portland, 7:01.396
5. Creighton, 7:06.658
6. Saint Mary's, 7:13.098
7. Santa Clara, Scratch 

FIRST VARSTIY EIGHT OFFICIAL RESULTS

1. Gonzaga, 6:38.492
2. San Diego, 6:42.937
3. Portland, 6:45.143
4. LMU, 6:48.579
5. Creighton, 6:50.382
6. Saint Mary's, 7:01.439
7. Santa Clara, 7:23.683

WCC ROWING MAJOR INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Fernanda Ceballos Lara, LMU

COXSWAIN OF THE YEAR
Sailor Hawes, Gonzaga
 
COACH OF THE YEAR
Andrew Derrick, Gonzaga
 
ROWER OF THE YEAR
Grace Dojan, Gonzaga
 
2023 ROWING WCC ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
CREIGHTON: Grace Frechette, Ivy Williams
GONZAGA: Grace Dojan, Hannah Cooney, Camille Ruhlin-Hicks, Perrine Sarraute
LMU: Poppy Frost, Fernanda Ceballos Lara
PORTLAND: Maddie Olson, Colleen Cushing
SAINT MARY'S: Olivia Watson, Hathaway Scarpine
SAN DIEGO: Caitlin Burns, Gigi Koerwitz, Clara Rasmussen
SANTA CLARA: Andreana Margaritis, Victoria Cerny
 
PORTLAND LINEUPS

FIRST VARSITY EIGHT:
Coxswain – Dawon Lee
8 – Maddie Olson
7 – Colleen Cushing
6 – Mia Kilmister
5 – Claire Banasky
4 – Olivia Zilavy Pailthorp
3 – Lexi Turner
2 – Kate Feustel
1 – Lexa Wendl
 
SECOND VARSITY EIGHT:
Coxswain – Clarissa Gutierrez
8 – Veronica Conklin
7 – Lauren Poehlmann
6 – Madi Franco
5 – Addison Thomas
4 – Isabella Honig
3 – Rachel Hester
2 – Abbey Storms
1 – Sarah Redmond
 
VARSITY FOUR:
Coxswain – Abbey McHugh
4 – Gabriela Garcia
3 – Natalie Baier
2 – Alysa Gribben
1 – Rachel Mann