Submitted by: Paul Lund, Cougar Crew Historian

The Washington State University Men’s Crew team was represented by five oarsmen at the Northwest Indoor Rowing Championship, Ergomania!, Saturday February 4th in Seattle. The outcome was an impressive five medals and five personal best race results.

In the Collegiate U23 Men’s Open 2000 meter event sophomore Jeff Rhubottom, Jr. (Burien, WA) took an early lead and stayed ahead through the first 500 meters. Junior Eric DeMaris (Snohomish, WA) opened a little more conservatively, but steadily closed the gap to his teammate, Rhubottom, Jr. Demonstrating why his consistency has earned him the stroke seat in the Varsity 8+, DeMaris stayed at the same pace until the last 250 meters when he built up to a sprint. He finished first in 6:28.5, and was followed by Rhubottom, Jr. in 6:35.6. Racing in between his fellow oarsmen, senior Joe Sudar went out aiming to improve his personal best by over 20 seconds. He was on pace well past the half-way mark, but the aggressive start caught up as he saw his speed slightly slow down. Sudar finished in 6:48.0, and took the last spot on the podium.

In the second to last event of the day, the Men’s Open 2000 meter, Paul Lund (Harstad, Norway) and Orion McCabe-Gould (Olympia, WA) were hoping to show the result of their significant winter training in Pullman. Lund came out firing and jumped ahead of the pack, while McCabe-Gould was between 3rd and 4th for the first 250 meters. Seeded first, Austin Nichols from Pocock Rowing Center, passed Lund and took the lead once they crossed the 500 meter mark. Towards the 1,000 meter mark McCabe-Gould moved up and was within a few meters of his teammate. Nichols maintained his strong drive and stayed ahead with a comfortable margin going into the last 500 meters. With less than 300 meters to go, McCabe-Gould passed Lund for the first time in the race, and Lund was not able to respond. Nichols finished in 6:08, followed by McCabe-Gould in 6:12.2 and Lund in 6:14.7.