Aug. 10, 2003

RINCON, Dominican Republic - Former Western Washington University rower Dave Friedericks won a gold medal Sunday on the last day of competition at the 2003 Pan American Games on Rincon Lake.

With Friedericks pulling the bow-oar, the United States men's eight led from start to finish, covering the 2,000-meter course in 5:43.61 to finish 2.52 seconds ahead of Canada. Friedericks also helped the U.S. win a silver medal Saturday in the fours competition.

Manning the U.S. eight were John Stillings (Edmonds, Wash.), Beau Hoopman (Plymouth, Wis.), Justin Bosley (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.), John Cranston (San Francisco, Calif.), Chris Liwski (Sarasota, Fla.), Paul Daniels (Burlington, Wis.), Andrew Brennan (Valley Forge, Pa.), Justin Jones (East Aurora, N.Y.), and Friedericks (Port Townsend, Wash.).

Cuba was clocked in 5:47.23 to win the bronze medal and Brazil finished fourth.

On Saturday, Friedericks helped the U.S. four place second in a time of 6:28.29. After leading the first 1,500 meters of the race, the crew encountered steering problems, which allowed Cuba to take the lead in the final 500 meters. Cuba finished with a time of 6:26.27. Brazil won the bronze medal with a 6:30.72 clocking.

Friedericks, a 2000 graduate of Western, competed on his first U.S. national team at the 2002 World Championships.

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Friedericks was a four-year letter winner for the Vikings from 1996 to 1999. As a senior, he was the stroke of Western's varsity four that placed third at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships.

Friedericks was seated in the Vikings' varsity eight that finished sixth in the grand final at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships as a junior and senior, and helped the varsity four place third in the PCRC grand final as a sophomore. He also was in Western's varsity eight that won three straight Cascade Sprints (northwest small college championship) titles.

Friedericks is the second Western rower to compete in the Pan American Games. The other was Darrell Vruegdenhil, who won a gold medal in 1975 in the pair with cox.

RESULTS:

Men's Eight (Sunday) Final: 1. United States (Friedericks, Jones, Brennan, Daniels, Liwski, Cranston, Bosley, Hoopman, Stillings) 5:43.61, 2. Canada 5:46.13, 3. Cuba 5:47.23, 4. Brazil 5:48.23.

Men's Four (Saturday) 1. Cuba 6:26.27, 2. United States (Bosley, Daniels, Friedericks, Hoopman) 6:28.29, 3. Brazil 6:30.72, 4. Canada 6:31.88, 5. Argentina 6:39.29.