The best of the West in women’s rowing came to Sacramento this weekend to compete in the 2000 Pac-10 championships at the CSUS aquatic center on Lake Natoma, and while the home team couldn’t come up with an upset to continue its season, the Hornets certainly held their own.

The odds makers called it right this time out, as the sixth-seeded Hornets did indeed finish sixth with a time of 6:54:6, falling behind front running Washington (6:27:5), Cal (6:29:6), Oregon State (6:39:8), USC (6:43:1), and Washington State (6:50:8).

For Sac State, who entered the grand final for the first time since entering intercollegiate sports, the chance for an invitation to the NCAA Championships is no longer, according to head coach Bill Zack, who said that they would need to finish in the top four to receive any consideration. The Hornets’ however are not disappointed in their performance.

“We’re really happy with the way that it went today, ” said senior coxswain Becky Devcic, “we were facing some really tough competition out there. Five years ago, we wouldn’t have been here (in the grand final).”

The Hornets feel they are a team on the rise, and that this season was a big step in the right direction, as they were defeated only once in dual-meet action and took first place in two regatta’s — the Cal Cup and the Western Independent Rowing Association Championships.

“I’m not disappointed at all, we had a great year,” said Zack. “Other than taking sixth here, we only lost to North Carolina, and we’ve finished in the top six crews in the west region.”

With the 2000 season under their belt, the Hornets now turn their attention toward next season, where they will look to continue the success they had this season.

“The nice thing about rowing, is that there is a definitive end to the season, and we can then look toward the next year, “said Zack. “We are losing some important seniors, but we do have six seats returning to the varsity eight next year. We also have a really good coxswain in Breanne Hart, who did a great job on the second varsity. As good as Becky (Devcic) has been, it’s nice to have somebody like Breanne to come in. We also have four new recruits that we really think will help us improve.

“I’m looking around this year, at some teams like San Diego State, who beat us last year and took fifth place. This year, they slipped all the way down to tenth. I don’t think that we’ll be in that position next year, we may not become a part of the nation’s elite, but we’re not going to slip.”

In other rowing action for the Hornets, the lightweight eight, which according to Zack was a “throw together” squad that didn’t have a lot of practice time, finished sixth out of seven teams, and the second varsity finished tenth with a time of 8:10:0.