BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University Women's Rowing program will put it all on the line this weekend with the inaugural Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships on Saturday at Vancouver Lake.
 
A year in the making since the GNAC started sponsoring women's rowing as its 17^th sport, the first conference championships regattas was scheduled for May 2020, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year's event has been moved to Vancouver Lake in Vancouver, Washington, and will follow the West Coast Conference Rowing Championships earlier in the morning.
 
WWU will field a Varsity 4+ and Varsity 8+ in the championships, competing against Central Oklahoma, Seattle Pacific and Humboldt State. HSU will feature a limited crew only racing in the Varsity 4+ event in their lone regatta of the season.
 
The GNAC Championships field is packed with elite rowing programs, with the Vikings the owner of an NCAA Division II best eight national championships and Central Oklahoma the two-time defending national champions. In the most recent Pocock/CRCA DII Coaches Poll presented by USRowing, UCO was listed No. 1, SPU No. 3 and WWU No. 5. 
 
The Vikings have been limited to just two regattas during the spring season, racing in the Falcon Regatta March 27 in Seattle and hosting SPU in the Viking Regatta April 17 on Lake Samish.
 
WWU's 23^rd-year head coach John Fuchs knows his program will need a big performance Saturday at the GNAC Championships to qualify for nationals, but loves the spirit and makeup of the 2021 squad.
 
"We are very much looking forward to this competition. This team is special. They have endured adversity and challenges that most don't realize. I am so proud of them," said Fuchs. "We will need an extraordinary performance to qualify for the NCAA Championship. The Eight and the Four have shown the speed so this week is about preparing. Hats off to the GNAC for putting this conference championship regatta together. It has been long overdue. Rowing and racing in May are what it's all about. The mornings on the lake this time of year are what collegiate rowers remember the most."
  The 2021 GNAC Rowing Championships features a three-race schedule beginning at 11 am on Vancouver Lake. WWU will race in the Varsity 4+ and the Varsity 8+ events:
 

• 11:00 am – Exhibition Open 4+
• 11:30 am – Varsity 4+
• 11:40 am – Varsity 8+
• 12:30 pm – Awards Ceremony

  The following point system will be used to determine the 2021 GNAC Champion:
 

• Eights: 18 pts for first place, 15 pts for second place, 12 pts for third place and 9 pts for fourth place.
• Fours: 12 pts for first place, 10 pts for second place, 8 pts for third place and 6 pts for fourth place.
  • Ties for team awards will be broken by the place finish in the eights.
  • A team must compete in both the Varsity 4+ and the Varsity 8+ to qualify to win the overall championship, If a team enters only one of the scoring races, it will be counted as a non-scoring entry in the race in which it does compete and the team scoring in the race will be allocated based on the finish of only those teams eligible for the overall team championship.

  WWU had 10 student-athletes earn a spot on the 2021 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Rowing All-Academic Team. WWU's 10 all-academic selections were second-most among the four GNAC rowing programs, which is in its second year as an affiliated sport with the conference. The Vikings placed 12 rowers on the inaugural GNAC All-Academic Rowing Team in 2020. Six of Western's 10 selections were repeat GNAC Academic All-Stars, including Maddie Bangasser, Lily Bjork, Ella Brinkman, Kiana Doyle, Haley Mossand Brenna Rice. WWU's 10 selections were also out of a possible 14 team members that are active this season and eligible under the GNAC selection guidelines. Bangassercarries a 3.90 GPA as a Kinesiology major and added another academic award to her personal trophy case. In addition to being a two-time All-GNAC Academic selection, the Sammamish native has been a two-time Academic All-District and CRCA All-Academic honoree, and was the 2019 WWU Female Scholar Athlete of the Year. Sophomore Clarice Ruhlin-Hicks led all of the 41 academic honorees with a perfect 4.00 GPA while pursuing a degree in political science.
 

Name	Academic Major	Year	GPA	Hometown
Maddie Bangasser	Kinesiology	Sr.	3.90	Sammamish, WA
Jonah Bettger	Geology	Sr.	3.20	Brush Prairie, WA
Lilly Bjork	Computer Science	Jr.	3.28	Langley, WA
Ella Brinkman	Interdisciplinary Studies	Jr.	3.82	Sebastopol, CA
Kristina De Koster	Education	Sr.	3.60	Bellingham, WA
Kiana Doyle	Music & Journalism	Jr.	3.40	University Place, WA
Haley Moss	Political Science & Sociology	Jr.	3.44	Orcas Island, WA
Brenna Rice	English Creative Writing	Sr.	3.33	Bethel, AK
Clarice Ruhlin-Hicks	Political Science	So.	4.00	Anchorage, AK
Jessica Smithlin	Sociology	Sr.	3.34	Orting, WA

  More information on the WWU Rowing program, including a details schedule, roster and quick facts can be found online at WWUVikings.com/RowViks and via social media on Twitter (@WWU_Rowing), Instagram (@wwuwomensrowing) and Facebook (@WWURowing).
  Led by head coach John Fuchs (23^rd season), WWU Rowing has become one of the elite collegiate rowing programs in the country, having won eight NCAA Division II National Championships. The Vikings won the 2017 NCAA II title, placed 2nd in 2018 and 3rd in 2019. WWU has competed in the NCAA Championships in 18 of the last 19 seasons, taking home the gold (8 times) or silver (4 times) medal 12 times in the 18 years the NCAA Division II team title has been awarded. Western won seven consecutive DII national championships from 2005-2011. In 17 trips to the NCAA Rowing Championships dating back to 2002, WWU has had its Varsity 4+ and Varsity 8+ reach the grand finals every time.