Things did not go as planned for the Sacramento State women?s rowing team at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships last weekend, but that is not necessarily something to be too upset about.

Sac State?s varsity-eight team was the back-to-back defending WIRA champion heading into the weekend, and after breezing through its quaifying heat on Saturday with a time of 6:58.7, it stood poised to three-peat.

The qualifying time was more than seven seconds faster than the second place University of California, Davis, boat and was part of what head coach Bill Zack saw as the best case scenario coming into the weekend competition.

“Part of our goal was to have all of our boats get into the Grand Finals,” Zack said.

Sac State participated in five events at the WIRA Championships, but since the novice-four petite team could, by definition, only finish as high as seventh place, they are not eligible for a Grand Final.

They finished first in the petite final, grabbing a seventh-place finish.

The second varsity-eight team finished in second place in its heat, crossing the finish line a mere seven-tenths of a second behind San Diego State University, winner of the heat.

The Hornets also finished second in their varsity-four heat, coming in less than three seconds behind the winner, the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The novice-four team was the only team not to qualify for Sunday?s competition, finishing third with a time of 8:07.9.

All three of the advancing teams put forth strong performances, giving them momentum going into Sunday?s final races.

The second part of Zack?s goal was to have the two primary boats, the varsity-eights, finish in the top three in their races.

“This is an experienced team,” Zack said. “There?s not much to tell them. They went out and executed the race plan, and the winning teams were just faster than us.

“We used to come out and row as fast as we could from start to finish and try to hold on and win, but that wasn?t working,” he said. “So now, we try to back off in the beginning of races and have a more steady pace all the way through.”

Indeed, the race plans would have worked for both the first and second varsity-eight teams, had the Gonzaga University team not been so dominant.

The Bulldogs narrowly beat out the Hornets for the gold medal in the varsity-eight race, taking down Sac State by less than four seconds, with a time of 6:49.7. In the second varsity-eight race, Sac State turned in its fastest time of the season (7:03.9), only to be bested by San Diego State and Gonzaga. The varsity-four team finished sixth with a time of 8:09.2.

“We?re very happy,” Zack said. “Obviously, you always want to win, but we have three firsts and two seconds in the last five years.

I don?t think you?ll find a single unhappy person among us.”As for the rest of the season, Zack is confident that not overcoaching will continue to be a formula for his team?s success.

“We might tweak the training a little bit, but other than that, we don?t have to do much,” Zack said.

The Hornets will next travel over the weekend to Philadelphia to participate in the Dad Vale Regatta next week.

“There will be 45 schools there,” Zack said. “So it will be good for the team to see what else is out there.”

The Hornets will compete at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships the following week which will be held at the Aquatic center.

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