March 23, 2005

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Despite featuring a roster with just three rowers and two coxswains returning, the Western Washington University men's rowing team expects to be competitive this year while keeping an eye on the future.

"It's a very young group but they're hard working," said coach Marty Sauvage (6th year). "Most of them don't have a lot of racing experience, so I think it's going to be a work in progress all the way through the year."

Helping to lead the way are returning rowers Phil DuBois (Sr., Olympia/Capital), Andy Foltz (Jr., Sumner) and Nate Pedersen (Jr., Peaks Island, ME/Portland/Gateway CC), and two experienced coxswains - Austin Jenkins (Sr., Vancouver/Hudson's Bay) and Brittany Poirson (So., Oberlin, OH/Elyria Catholic).

Last year, DuBois was the bow stroke in the varsity four boat that won a grand final at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships and placed second in a grand final at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Championships. Foltz and Jenkins were members of the varsity eight and Pedersen was in the novice eight, while Poirson was a member of the women's rowing team.

"They've been there, so the younger guys are going to defer to them a lot, especially the coxswains" said Sauvage.

After mainly racing fours last season because of a small squad, Sauvage said the Vikings will return to more eights competition this year.

"Traditionally, the eights have always been our focus, so we wanted to get back to that," said Sauvage. "We've got some guys that show potential and we've got enough athletes that it made sense to do that."

Joining DuBois and Foltz in the varsity eight will be six freshmen.

"It's going to be a young boat, but they're all guys who show up every day and work hard," Sauvage said. "However, I'm not bolting anyone to a seat. If I don't see something I like, I'm going to make a change."

Western will also have a second eight and a frosh eight, allowing the younger rowers ample opportunity to gain experience on the water, a main goal of Sauvage.

"We need to teach them how to race at this level since not a lot of them have done that," said Sauvage. "They need to learn about the level of competition they're up against. Our job is to get them to go out there and race as hard as they can, and then see what happens.

"Then we'll keep changing the parts around if we need to, to see if we can find some speed."

The Vikings open their season Saturday at the Daffodil Regatta on American Lake in Tacoma. The season is capped with the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships Apr. 30 at Rancho Cordova, Calif.

"The relative inexperience of the group kind of dictates that we take a long-term approach here," Sauvage said. "Some of these kids are going to figure it out right away, but my experience is that most of these athletes don't peak until they've done this for at least a year."