Summer 2023

THE PULLHARD

PUBLICATION

2023 / ISSUE 1 / SUMMER

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Best Greetings, longsuffering Pull Hard Readers! Thank you for your patience, and thank you, Editor Emeritus Dave Herrick (14), for passing the torch (and not calling down the wrath of the River Gods). Dave is now coaching Navy, under fellow Coug Shawn Bagnall (99), and we wish them both the best (until they line up against a WSU crew, of course). We will return this august publication to a regular (semi-annual) calendar. The Summer issue will survey and assess spring racing; the Winter issue will do the same for fall. All your hot news will arrive electronically. If you have not signed up for e-news see below.

I’d like us to think of this old-established club chronicle as a journal of arts and opinion. Cooler heads have counseled that a newsletter is a newsletter and higher aspirations are fantasies for fools. You be the judge. You’ll find some news here; likely a bit stale. To balance, you should find what email and social media often miss: the Five Ws (sacred to the memory of Ed Murrow), plus clear thinking about how we might make sense of the data.

We are all bone-weary of the pandemic and its consequences, known and unknown. Exasperating and sometimes dismal as it was, celebrating our half-century hallelujah in The Time of Covid-19 had an upside. We started work in 2019, because 2020 would mark fifty years since the idea germinated. Final execution was delayed four years. Class Day 2022 was outstandingly successful. Three dress rehearsals (two via Zoom) made our 2023 reunion the best yet, no contest. Anyone involved in that four-day rendezvous will almost certainly agree it was a humdinger.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Going to press is a rewarding challenge, made possible only by the alert intelligence of many collaborators. Thank you, all!

Design and layout: Kathleen Randall Stories, interviews, photos, graphics, proofreading, fact-checking, wise counsel:

Dave Arnold

Danny Brevick

Peter Brevick

Phil Busick

Alex Carper

Lisa Curtis

Andi Day

Dave Emigh

Doug Engle

Dave Herrick

Karl Huhta

Ernie Iseminger

Don Kelly

Len Mills

Mike Klier

Scott Morgan

Kristi Norelius

Josh Proctor

Kari Ranten

Steve Ranten

Aaron Sangha

Tony Shapiro

Olivia Sloma

Ken Struckmeyer

Joe Sudar

Sean Swett

Mitch Williams

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine meeting Rich Stager (74) and Bob Orr (UW 61) in person, much less on the same day. If we can keep Cougar Crew Days cruising at current altitude, missing a reunion will be a real and serious cause for regret. We welcome submissions, article requests, news tips, comments and corrections. Email: pullhard@cougarcrew.com

Finally, a bitter cry of grief and mourning heard recently amongst the teeming multitude of our esteemed alumni: “The Pull Hard is dead!” Said Samuel Langhorne Clemens in a similar situation: “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Long live The Pull Hard and long live Cougar Crew!

—Rich “Flip” Ray (80)

COVER: APRIL 5, 2023 TRAINING. PHOTO: JEREMIAH GUNHEE LEE BACKCOVER: NOVEMBER 11, 2022. BONFIRE CELEBRATION, LAST WATER PRACTICE OF THE YEAR. PHOTO: PETER BREVICK

Comments from the CCAA Chair

First of all, thank you for being a part of Cougar Crew. Many of you are dear to me from my years on the team. Every year I meet more of you from across the decades and the nation. It is an honor and a privilege to volunteer alongside so many of you in support of our current student athletes and this wonderful program.

Like most of you, I am passionate about rowing, Cougar Crew and WSU. And that is why I deeply appreciate everyone that supports this team. Special thanks to Tim “Haole” Richards, founding Chair of the Cougar Crew Alumni Association (CCAA), now stepping back after 17 years of exemplary leadership. Tim’s contributions and dedication to CCAA and Cougar Crew are immense. We look forward to his continued involvement as an advisor to the Board.

Big thanks also to athletes and coaches, CCAA board members, volunteer organizers, alumni, UREC, parents and other supporters. By helping get CCAA firmly established, all of you have earned our gratitude and recognition. Thanks to the Board’s financial planning, development work and pursuit of planned giving, Cougar Crew is building on its traditional revenue sources (team dues and fundraising) with a broader income from endowment interest and regular alumni support that is laying the solid foundation we have all dreamed of.

Athlete hours formerly spent fundraising will be better spent training, studying, or engaging in other campus activities. It’s no surprise that when athlete expenses and fundraising demands are reduced and safety and support are increased, we see improvement in recruiting, retention, and results.

Building the Base

We recently concluded our “Celebration of 50 Years of Rowing on the Snake,” a project we began work on in 2019. Due to the pandemic, 2020 and 2021 saw virtual-only meetups. In 2022 and 2023, we returned to in-person reunions and saw record-breaking results. Total fundraising over four years approached a halfmillion dollars, despite the chronic chaos of the public health crisis. As our founders (many of them present at this year’s event) reminded us, Covid-19 is only the latest in the list of challenging obstacles overcome by Cougar Crew. Once again, we have prevailed and flourished. We have a proud legacy to cherish and a strong program to steward into the next 50 years and beyond.

On the alumni side, CCAA will focus on reconnection and communication. We want to create more opportunities for active engagement—between alumni, athletes, parents and supporters, and we want to increase overall awareness of Cougar Crew. The attendance rate for Cougar Crew Days in 2022 and 2023, around 300 guests, is sustainable, as we now have nearly 3,000 alum-

ni. Some will come to Pullman every year. Many more will come every few years. With a bit of teamwork, we will continue to grow attendance. Reach out to your boatmates and make plans—you won’t regret it. One attendee returning for the first time in many years said they felt like they’d been given back their friends. It’s a great feeling and it’s not unusual. Additionally, we will be organizing informal west-side regatta meetups and possibly even in-person watch-parties for more distant away regattas.

Building the Team

On the team side, we will continue supporting athletes and coaches in their pursuit of excellence, specifically by helping them pursue their stated goal of winning the ACRA overall team points trophy. That’s right—not just a national championship boat, they want to build a national champion caliber team. Clearly ambitious, but the strategic plan drafted over the past two years by officers, coaches and alumni identifies the challenges to be overcome. A fresh recruiting and retention strategy was deployed last fall. That plan included outreach to Junior-level rowing programs, high school athletic departments, new-student orientations, peer-topeer networking, on-campus activities, targeted social media marketing, and more.

The strategy is yielding results, as evidenced by improved fall turnout and spring retention. Obstacles to retention, including dues and no-training fundraising days, are being addressed with alumni help. Since CCD 2022, specifically-targeted CCAA assistance has eliminated two fund-raising days and provided chartered buses to regattas. To help meet the requirements of a growing roster, some of the proceeds of CCD 2023 will underwrite the salary for our first-ever full-time paid Assistant Coach.

Head Coach Peter Brevick said recently “I am truly privileged to be standing on the shoulders of giants.” I share Peter’s gratitude. In my years as a coxswain (at WSU and elsewhere), I have often felt that way. It is a privilege that demands responsibility. Mutual responsibility is the glue binding every successful team in its pursuit of a common objective.

I am honored to have been chosen CCAA Board Chair, and excited to be following in Tim Richards’s footsteps. Tim has built the CCAA into a very solid team. I view my responsibility as Chair as analogous to that of a coxswain: organizer, coordinator, communicator. I’m not here to reinvent the rowing stroke. I’m here to keep us together, implement the race plan, help everyone make the most of every stroke and continue (incrementally, steadily) building boat speed.

So thank you for your trust and thank you for asking me to serve you and this program. Let’s get to work!

—Andi Day (90)

Cougar Crew Days 50th Gala Finale

A diverse crew of the usual suspects including alumni, current rowers, family and supporters, were witnesses to a once-in-a-lifetime reunion in Pullman the weekend of March 17–18. Among the crowd were many original crew members and coaches from the early 1970s, summoned by legendary coxswain and effervescent organizer Mike Klier (75). High-risk for Covid-19, the Founders waited four years to celebrate what they started in 1970.

Together, we put a big exclamation point on a four-year marathon effort to celebrate our first half-century on the Snake. A happy and inspiring demonstration of Cougar Crew’s tenacity and resilience, CCD 2023 was a 72-hour whirlwind of community gatherings and personal reunions, celebrations and recollections on an emotional spectrum from thrilling to poignant.

Elite-level Tech Talk

The weekend began quietly on Thursday at 5:00pm in the Smith Center for Undergraduate Education. Room 202, an amphitheater facing a big pull-down screen, was the forum chosen for a detailed technical discussion by Paul Enquist (77) before an audience of current rowers, both club and varsity, plus a scattering of alumni and coaches. Paul’s subject? A stake boat to finish line description of his heart-stopping 2x Grand Final with partner Brad Lewis in the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Mass quantities of good pizza arrived soon and disappeared quickly. Minor issues with the PowerPoint presentation added comic relief to an otherwise stone-serious look at racing technique and strategy at the very pinnacle of our sport. A sharp Q&A concluded the presentation.

Postponed four years by the pandemic, our 50th was worth the wait

Rededication of the 101 Friday started with Class Day racing in the morning. Sophomores prevailed. Back on campus, up in the lofty Ergometer Room in the Field House, things kicked into high gear with the rededication of the 101, one of the first shells rowed on the Snake, loaned to the fledgling crew by UW Head Coach Dick Erickson. The shell was destroyed in the 1972 storm that collapsed the shell house at Boyer Park. The bow was returned to the Huskies and is part of the historic collection in Conibear shell house. A mostly-intact 23-foot fragment of the shell was transported by club member Bob Minnich to his family home in Puyallup, where it quietly collected five decades worth of dust in the garage rafters. This haunting talismanic remnant of the 101 was gifted back to the crew by Bob’s brother Scott, and, thanks mostly to the efforts of Mike Klier, returned to Pullman for permanent display high above the whirring fans in the Ergometer Room.

Remarks by Coach Brevick, Scott Minnich and Cougar Crew’s very first Head Coach, Bob Orr, nicely balanced the amusing and the serious. Coxswain Kathy (Figon) Kaatz (76) officially rededicated the 101 with a bottle of champagne, burst over the partial Pocock skeleton in near-classic style. (The bottle struck a hexagonal steel breaker bar, suspended over the boat. Glass shards were contained in a nylon-mesh bag.) Attendance was limited to

WAWAWAI, MARCH 18. ÉMINENCE GRISE. USROWING REFEREE SINCE 1980, BOB APPLEYARD (75) HAS OFFICIATED REGATTAS AROUND THE WORLD. DIRECTOR, JULIAN WOLF REFEREE COLLEGE (2002PRESENT). CHIEF REFEREE, HOCR (1991-95) AND IRA (2005-14). COCHIEF REFEREE, OLYMPIC TRIALS (1992-96). UMPIRE, 2008 SUMMER GAMES, BEIJING. FRANKLIN AWARD 2014.

WAWAWAI, MARCH 18. L-R: STEVE HUHTA (73) AND SON KARL (06) RECHRISTEN A SHELL IN MEMORY OF A FAVORITE BROTHER AND UNCLE. A GIFT OF STEVE HUHTA IN THE 2005-2006 SEASON, KARL ROWED THREE IN THIS SHELL WHEN WSU TOOK GOLD IN THE M4+ AT WIRAS IN 2006. A LONGTIME SUPPORTER OF THE TEAM, STEVE ANNOUNCED THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HUHTA FAMILY ENDOWMENT AT CCD 2022. PHOTO: WSU PHOTO SERVICES

90 by the safety rules of the Erg Room, so a video of this unusual and moving event was shown to a crowd more than twice that number halfway through the Ice Breaker at the UREC Center later that evening.

Ice Breaker Celeb Gossip

One of the weekend highlights was a sharp focus on five Coug rowers (thus far) who have made it to the Olympics. (CCD organizers were unsuccessful in their diligent search for a sixth Coug rowing Olympian, Beth Redford). At the Friday evening Ice Breaker at UREC Center, a crowd of well over 200 assembled and your author was studiously minding her own business when who should stroll up but Paul Enquist, fishing from his pocket a pendant on tri-color ribbon and asking “Ever seen one of these?” Many times on TV, of course! But that didn’t prepare me for the size and weight of a bona fide Olympic gold medal. The downlow moment was tailor-made for a belated but sincere word of congratulations.

Take Me to the River

Saturday morning brought the customary entertaining chaos at the river with slow rowers and racers in a shouting, laughing hubbub of launchings and landings, including some of the oldest of the old guard wetting an oar. The long, striking figure of Original Founder #1, Rich Stager, was ubiquitous at the scene, striding briskly from the far end of the breakwater to the inside of the boathouse and back again before you could say Jack Robinson. In the final challenge sprint of the day, the Sophomores prevailed over all adversaries, including a couple of admirably competitive alumni crews.

Next up was the Cougar Crew Alumni Association board meeting in the Great Hall at Lewis Alumni Centre. Proceedings were marked by the formalization of board committees, something in the works for over a year. We will be hearing more about the committees and how to get involved very soon. More importantly, CCAA accomplished its first leadership transition. Tim “Haole” Richards (84), first elected Chair in 2005, is now a member of

the Hawaii State Senate and has relinquished the CCAA tiller. Three candidates were nominated and Andi Day (90) was elected CCAA’s second Chair by a solid majority.

50-Year Feast

Beasley Coliseum was, for the second year running, venue for the weekend’s crowning event, a 42-table, close-to-300-guest buffet dinner staged Saturday evening on the basketball floor. Echoing President Elson Floyd’s participation in 2008, Dr. Elizabeth Chilton, Chancellor WSU Pullman, made the night’s welcoming remarks, thanking the crowd for leading by example: “This is what WSU alumni can do!” Women’s Head Coach Jane LaRiviere and other members of her coaching staff and rowers were in attendance as well.

Chancellor Chilton was accompanied by husband Michael Sugerman. Advised that Sugerman rowed for Brown University, the audience responded with applause and shouts of approval. Other VIPs included Dr. Ellen Taylor, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Kari Sampson, Director of Development in the Foundation’s Student Affairs Division. Chancellor Chilton placed winning bids in the live and silent auctions, stayed until the closing bell, and approached Coach Struckmeyer before leaving, thanking him for the invitation and parting with an enthusiastic “See you next year!” Mr. Sugerman expressed what seemed to be genuine interest in joining next year’s Class Day sprints.

Keynote and Olympic Panel

This year’s Keynote speaker was Bob Appleyard, Class of 1975. Bob played an integral role in the beginnings of Cougar Crew and went on to serve as a key leader and referee in US, international and Olympic rowing. In 2014, he was honored with USRowing’s Franklin Award for lifetime contributions to the sport. Bob’s

BEASLEY COLISEUM, MARCH 18. L-R: MICHAEL SUGERMAN, PAUL ENQUIST AND CHANCELLOR ELIZABETH CHILTON, HOLDING PAUL’S 1984 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL. SUGERMAN IS PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY, HUSBAND OF CHANCELLOR CHILTON AND ROWED FOR BROWN.

PHOTO: WSU PHOTO SERVICES

WAWAWAI, MARCH 18. L-R: KEN “MAD DOG” BARTLINE (73), STROKE OF THE RED BARON ON ITS DEMISE; ERIC ANDERSON (74), FOUNDING MEMBER; DAVE EMIGH (73), FOUNDING MEMBER; JIM VERELLEN (73), SECOND PRESIDENT, FIRST COMMODORE; RICH STAGER (74), FOUNDER AND FIRST PRESIDENT. PHOTO: WSU PHOTO SERVICES

remarks focused on the determination shown by the first WSU crews and the importance of club rowing today, as the sport continues to evolve.

Following his talk, Bob moderated a panel discussion with Olympians Paul Enquist (77), Sean Halsted (92), Lisa Roman (12)and Nicole Hare (16). Kristi Norelius (77), 1984 Olympic gold medalist, was planning to participate this year before obligations prevented. Kristi gave the keynote at CCD 2022. The Olympians shared memories of rowing on the international stage and the foundations laid by their Snake River rowing experiences.

As the panel discussion concluded, Lisa and Nicole briefly detoured the program, offering Nicole’s Canadian National team jacket, worn at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio di Janeiro and autographed by both, as a surprise live auction item. Bidding was brisk and the winner was one of Lisa and Nicole’s WSU teammates, Sara (Brevick) McCornack (16). This spontaneous expression of solidarity between the varsity and club sides was

one of the evening’s brightest of many bright spots. Another highlight was a team video created by Nolan Hubbell (24). Watch it: https://tinyurl.com/3udbhwxj

21-Gun Salute

CCAA Chair Tim Richards’s (84) seventeen years at the helm were formally recognized by Mariah Maki, Executive Director of the WSU Alumni Association, on hand to present WSUAA’s Distinguished Service Award. Ever alert to his athletes’ grooming and attire, Coach Struckmeyer presented Tim with a wince-provoking necktie from his wonderfully egregious collection. A final round of paddle-bidding pushed the Tim Richards Endowment over the $25,000 (interest-income-generating) mark.

Reflecting on the evening, Maki reportedly told a colleague that in her role as Executive Director, she attends well over 100 WSU alumni events every year and “This is one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

Raising the Glass

Just past intermission, Paul Enquist took the podium and offered a formal toast saluting the first and next 50 years of Cougar rowing. Paul ran down a list of formidable obstacles faced and overcome, pointing each with a quietly triumphant “And we are still here!” This brief, thoughtful interlude was a deeply moving and pitch-perfect tribute to our first half-century of rowing on the Snake.

SPECIAL NOTE:

Cougar Crew Days 2022 was a major success, hindered only by the winter Covid-19 spike, which kept many at home.

Dave Arnold’s and Kristi Norelius’s keynotes available here:

Kristi: https://tinyurl.com/38twjrxt

Dave: https://tinyurl.com/msff5bby

—Kari (Buringrud) Ranten (80) and Rich “Flip” Ray (80)

LEWIS ALUMNI CENTRE, MARCH 17. TIM “HAOLE” RICHARDS III (84) LEADS HIS LAST COUGAR CREW ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETING. L-R: RICHARDS; SEAN SWETT, COMMODORE; STEVEN COLLET, TREASURER. PHOTO: WSU PHOTO SERVICES

BEASLEY COLISEUM TRANSFORMED. SIT-DOWN DINNER FOR 300.

PHOTO: WSU PHOTO SERVICES

OLYMPIC PANEL, L-R: LISA ROMAN, SEAN HALSTED, NICOLE HARE, PAUL ENQUIST, BOB APPLEYARD. PHOTO: WSU PHOTO SERVICES

After Long Absence

My last look at Pullman was in March, 1985. My return trip in March, 2022 began with a series of anxious and disorienting moments that occasionally knocked me off balance. It started Friday as I came into town. Where was sleepy Pullman and the handful of cars putt-putting around campus? What was with all these intersections and wide boulevards and flashy university signs? Where was what we now call mid-century architecture? Embarrassed, I asked for help finding the CUB.

I admit I was a little nervous about the social aspect of the weekend. I expected strangers, awkward conversations and embarrassing moments of having forgotten names. There were no strangers; we were Cougar Crew of past and present, engaging in rich conversations that spanned decades. I had first met these people when we were just beginning to sprout as young adults. As conversations unfolded, I was inspired by the lives people have created and the paths they have taken.

And of course, there was the river. The smell, the awe of that volume of water moving through the space of rounded hills. And most familiar of all, the sound of crunching gravel that surrounds a boathouse, mixing with voices of organizers and coxswains valiantly trying to herd cats within the happy din of chatter that comes when friends are in the place of a life-changing shared experience. Capping the morning was a short and delightful row punctuated with giggles and the universal question of whether we were “down on port” or “down on starboard”. A special note to Cougar coxswains. Never having been to the “new” boathouse, I was so very impressed with your ability to orchestrate and navigate crowded docks, a jetty, wind and current. Your skills are to be commended!

Olympian Kristi Norelius revisits her Palouse rowing roots at Class Day 2022

KRISTI DELIVERING KEYNOTE AT CCD 2022

https://youtu.be/ZqqBIzRl6Fs

Before leaving campus, carrying the afterglow of the weekend, I went on a solo scavenger hunt for familiar landmarks. The two most important? First, the concrete stairs that led me from my dorm, Regents Hill, up to the stadium, where running stadium steps began my formation as an athlete. Second, the Fieldhouse, where my first athletic injury occurred; a stress fracture in my foot when I pushed too hard running sprints. When I found the cracked stairs with

PICTURE BECAUSE WE WERE THE 3 HUSKIES IN THE BOAT (HE DIDN’T KNOW I WAS A HYBRID).” THE FIRST FEMALE CREW TO BREAK THREE MINUTES.

their worn metal railing, I couldn’t control my smile or the urge to run up them for old time’s sake.

Wandering among the slick new buildings and well-groomed athletic fields, I finally found the Fieldhouse. It looked like a shrunken old man with dirty glasses. I wanted to go inside to smell the history but it was locked. The only way I could see inside was to repeatedly jump up and catch brief glimpses through the smeared windows. Before walking away, I patted the side of the building and said “thanks.”

The magic of the weekend was created by the coordinators. They brought seamless logistics, banquet glitz to a large, otherwise soul-less space, and a lucrative auction that spoke of all who kept their “heads in the boat” for 50+ years, selflessly paying forward to future generations.

—Kristi Norelius (77)

LOS ANGELES GAMES, AUGUST 4, 1984. L-R BETSY BEARD (COXSWAIN); SHYRIL O’STEEN (BOW); KRISTI NORELIUS (SIX). KRISTI: “THE SEATTLE TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER TOOK THE

PHOTO: SEATTLE TIMES

A Small Boat Story

Today’s college rowers have more options

“If you can learn to row a Pair well it will help you as you try and move up into larger boats.”

—ACRA Live stream commentary

The 8+ dominates competitive rowing to the extent that the rowing community itself recognizes only “8s” and “not-8s”, the not-8s being the Single, Double, Pair, Quad and Four or the “small-boats.” Small-boats are their own events, with their own virtues and their own unique requirements. These are the Cougar Crew small-boat stories from ACRA 2023.

Men’s Straight Pair (M2-)

The Pair, I argue, was invented by someone with a sculling background and a deep loathing for the sweep community. It is patient; the moment you drop your guard, it will bite you. All shells are intrinsically unstable to roll. The Pair is also profoundly unstable to yaw; it wiggles down the course unless the crew applies asymmetric pressure at asymmetric points in the stroke. The only way to create a shell more prone to capsize is to put both oars on the same side. You can’t hide in the Pair.

Trial by fire (noun phrase): 1. A test in which a person is exposed to flames in order to assess their truthfulness, commitment or courage.

2. Any ordeal which tests one’s strength, endurance or resolve.

3. (Idiomatic, by extension): Racing a Pair, especially a Pair that formed 12 days prior.

There is a lot to admire about Phil Busick (24) and Aaron Sangha (25). What struck me most was their admiration for and commitment to each other. We take that for granted in rowing; it is often our norm. Thus we can, at times, forget what a privilege it is to form a friendship worthy of the name. They speak in terms of pride, gratitude, trust and a desire to excel. “I questioned my ability to properly represent the program,” said Busick, having so little time to prepare. It is clear these are their authentic voices, free of affectation and self-interest.

ACRA Heat 2 of the M2- was the first race Busick & Sangha rowed as a crew. They struggled. The C Final was their second. They prevailed. In fact, they showed great poise and discipline, rowing an error-free and laudable race. They learned to accommodate the quirkiness of the Pair. They lived the adage “sink or swim.”

Busick, in stern, worked the toe. Sangha, in bow, called the race. In the time they had to rehearse they developed their own catch-phrases: clipped, single words relevant to overcoming known issues. They reflected at length on the lessons of the Pair: calm is rewarded, tension is punished. See the conundrum? The boat wants to bite you but you must relax.

Summarizing the C Final, Sangha offered this: “Our struggle was getting into the mindset of rowing a Pair. Had we had more time, we could have done better, but it was such a great experience to row it, I can’t be upset.”

Busick and Sangha plan a return to the Pair this fall; they see

OAK RIDGE, TN, MAY 20. MEN’S PAIR, C FINAL. L-R: PHIL BUSICK (24), AARON SANGHA (25). PHOTO: ROW2K.COM

it as a vehicle into the 1V8+. California native Phil Busick came to rowing as a walk-on, drawn by a chance encounter with an ergometer trial and the open generosity of the crew. He sees his Senior year as an opportunity to prove himself among his peers. Aaron Sangha has two years of eligibility remaining which he will pursue in his home state of Washington.

(HereNow coverage of Phil Busick and Aaron Sangha in the M2C Final picks up at 670m at video time stamp 01:27:42 with WSU in lane three, first on the left in the opening frame. Watch it here: https://tinyurl.com/bdf8vsfu)

Women’s Double Scull (W2x)

WSU Women’s Club entries are identified by an odd suffix: “- Men”; perhaps meant to be translated “not Men” or “without Men.” Read it as you will, the Club Women put forward a Double that earned the podium.

The most remarkable aspect of WSU’s W2x performance was not their nearly impeccable course, nor their poise while being hard-pressed for 1,500m, nor even their Silver medal finish after sculling together less than two months. The most remarkable aspect of this crew is the very fact of their existence. These quiet, endearing, articulate and unassuming athletes rose from a program of roster-depth-four and succeeded, essentially on their own, by the sheer power of their combined will and a deep bond of friendship and mutual respect. Olivia Sloma and Alex Carper are a force of nature.

It would be difficult to find two people more at ease together. Acknowledging and reinforcing one another’s strengths helped forge a fast crew in eight weeks’ time from two women rowing in the same shell. That and their innate talent.

In the Grand Final, Sloma and Carper were called to the line ahead of schedule and linked to the stake boat two startrehearsals short of their planned warmup. This may have contributed to the awkwardness of their first 15 strokes. They shook it off and settled in for the long haul. At 360m the order-of-finish was already decided: Gordon College first, WSU second and UNH a very close third. It was a relentless slugfest for Silver from there to the finish. Carper, in bow, called the race, sharing steering inputs with Sloma at stroke. There was no toe. Watch closely and you may notice a single lapse in heading, caught early and corrected, with great finesse, over the course of several strokes. No ricochet off the buoy line, no mad dash back to center, but rather a disciplined feathering of the heading that ultimately paid dividends. Composure under pressure is a virtue Sloma and Carper learned at WIRAs.

Asked to describe their state of mind after the finish, Carper said “I thought we rowed a mature race. I was happy.” Sloma replied, “I was tired!” A Zen-mind and no mistake. “Yes,” said Carper “as long as we are upright and have a pulse, we are pulling.”

Olivia Sloma is contemplating a move to the Women’s D1 for her Junior and Senior years. I suspect she will excel. Alex Carper will be the 28th Women’s Commodore and will spend her remaining two years of eligibility rowing. No two words focus the mind as sharply as these: everything ends. However, it is a priceless universal of rowing: the boat dissolves but not the crew.

(Coverage of Olivia Sloma and Alex Carper in the W2x picks up at 360m; video time stamp 01:21:37, with WSU in lane 4, third from the top in the opening frame. Watch it here: https://tinyurl. com/5n8zm5mu)

Men’s Single Scull (M1x)

If you row, you may have come to secretly admire the Single. Almost everyone who crews—rows with at least one partner— has innate respect for the athletes who row alone. Competitive rowing is painful; in a crew, you have companions who help you bear the pain. If it is true that you can’t hide in the Pair, it is also true that there is someone else in the boat to blame. And if there is “no crying in Baseball” there is no hiding, no blaming and no escape in the Single.

Suppose you had 20 outings in a Single to your credit. Not 20 this season, 20 in your entire career. Would you have the courage to enter the ACRA? And if you did, where might you expect to finish? For Spokane native Don Kelly, the answers are Yes, and damn-near-first in the Petite Final. It is uncommon to refer to a boat race as a knife fight, but the final 500m of Kelly’s last collegiate competition might qualify. If you don’t see blood in the water at the finish, you may not be paying close enough attention.

Kelly arrived at WSU with a Cross Country background and was handed a copy of The Boys in the Boat. That trajectory carried him through the punishing realities of Covid to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, four years later. Sidelined from sweep rowing by sequential back and wrist injuries, Kelly turned to the Single and found his calling. Struggling in the eight to isolate and interpret the consequences of his actions from a signal containing seven other sources, rowing in isolation gave him the prompt, unambiguous

OAK RIDGE, TN, MAY 21. L-R: STROKE OLIVIA SLOMA (25), AND BOW ALEX CARPER (25) ON THE AWARDS DOCK WITH SILVER MEDALS.

PHOTO: DANIELLA DU TOIT

feedback he needed to grow his skill-set and experience.

Leaving the line in the Petite Final with his usual cautious, composed start, he was, as he expected, last in a field of six at 100m, but still bottom-down. It is hard to be in the hunt bottom-up. At 700m four boats, including Kelly, share the lead, line-abreast. Which means he had picked his way through the entire pack; an experience, he said, that he enjoyed. Having shed all but one challenger by 1,500m, he moved to the front only to be overtaken, finishing a commendable second, 1.2 seconds off the lead.

How does a sculler, with a race-to-win attitude, come to terms with a close second? “I had fun,” said Kelly. “In hindsight I can’t see how I might have affected the outcome further given the reality of my situation.”

Graduating with a degree in Kinesiology and currently employed as a personal trainer, Don Kelly is making plans for summer rowing in western Washington and assembling a Quad of hand-picked men. Only the best eights can press a determined M4x that knows how to suffer. One of the dark secrets of rowing.

(Coverage of Don Kelly’s Petite Final in the M1x begins at video time-stamp 01:07:01 with Kelly, in lane 4, second from the left in the opening frame. Watch it here: https://tinyurl.com/5n8zm5mu)

—Mike Klier (75)

ACRA All-Region Teams

On May 19, ACRA posted the following press release: The American Collegiate Rowing Association proudly announces the All-Region teams and Regional Coaches of the Year. Criteria used were: 2,000 meter testing scores, performance of their crew, career racing results, individual performances and coach recommendation. Selections were made by the ACRA Board of Directors. To be considered for this award, each individual’s team must be an ACRA member and the coach must have submitted the candidate’s name. Congratulations to all those receiving these honors!

In yet another startling measure of the rising stature of WSU rowing, for the ACRA 2023 West Coast Region Men’s Team (eight rowers and a coxswain), WSU had three athletes selected: Carter Mills, Mark Walker-Rittgers and Sean Swett. Cal Irvine had two athletes named; the remaining four were from UC Davis, Orange Coast, UC Santa Barbara and University of Oregon. WSU’s Alex Carper was named to the West Coast Women’s Team. Congratulations, Carter, Mark, Sean and Alex. Press release: https://tinyurl.com/327352kj

OAK RIDGE, TN, MAY 21. DON KELLY (23), STANDING BY FOR THE PETITE FINAL. PHOTO: ROW2K.COM

BEASLEY COLISEUM, MARCH 18. FIRST COUGAR ROWING COACH BOB ORR PRESENTING THE ORR TROPHY TO THE WINNING SOPHOMORES. L-R: ALEX CARPER, AARON SANGHA, COACH PETER BREVICK, BOB ORR. ALSO ONSTAGE, NOT SHOWN: JERAN JORDAN, EVAN THORNTON, COOPER PAGE, KYLE HOLE, ISAAC ASELIN, EZRA KLINGHOFFER, JOHN JIN. CREDIT: WSU PHOTO SERVICES

Sophomores’ Class Day show of strength bodes well for future

Power 10 Frontier of Finance

Thirteen years ago Tom Caudill (80) came up with the idea of the Power-10 Campaign. Tom’s open letter to the Cougar rowing community, published in The Pull Hard, was, as we used to say, a bit of a guilt trip. Returning home from Cougar Crew Days, Tom wrote:

While I had a wonderful time reconnecting with teammates, meeting current rowers, rowing and meeting other alumni and family members, I left Pullman with a feeling of embarrassment and outrage about the financial condition of the crew, the time required of rowers to raise money, the tremendous effort by coaches for nominal pay.

Many of us have shared Tom’s “lightbulb moment.” Not enough of us have had his sudden burst of initiative and resolve. We leave the Palouse, enter the workforce, start families, dive deep in the ocean of real life. It is neither surprising, nor a sign of disrespect or carelessness that, however glorious or painful our Snake River Days may have been, they fade slowly into the background, a deep well of potent memories, but often little more. That was then, this is now.

The power of Tom’s 2010 inspiration was simple: to help student-athletes compete, we do not have to regularly remind ourselves how much rowing did for us, meant to us, means to us. We know all that. What we do need to do is keep pulling with the rest of the team, even if only at a light paddle.

Not many of us have the time and ability to remain actively involved. That doesn’t prevent any of us from continuing to pull. Since 2006, CCAA has become exactly what we intended: the core of the Cougar rowing community. Best estimates are that we now number close to 3,000, counting everyone who rowed at least one season, and everyone who has assisted the Crew in some concrete way over the last half century.

Our current P10 enrollment of 140 live bodies with bank accounts generates roughly $26k in cash flow. A little over 15% of the team’s annual budget. You can help us meet our current goal of 200 P10 members—enough to cover the head coach’s salary. From there? The sky’s the limit.

All P10 monies go directly to operations: coaching salaries, equipment, travel costs. If we make P10 the reliable revenue stream, funds from Cougar Crew Days and other events and campaigns will be icing on the cake: funding special projects and building the endowments toward the day when interest income can take over. Until then, let’s all do the right thing. All we need is a few thousand monthly drops in the bucket.

—Josh Proctor (01)

Men’s Varsity 8+ at ACRA Championships

This is Dave Emigh, and this is my take on the way that the crimson, black, and gray oars splashed. (Note: I did not travel to Oak Ridge but watched the entire regatta from the comfort of my living room, courtesy HereNow Sports, via YouTube.)

This year’s ACRAs had 31 entries in the Men’s Varsity 8+ event. There was one scratch, so the final field was 30 crews. Just chew on that for a minute. Consider the logistics. More crews launched for one event than many regattas can show in toto. Competition opened on Friday, May 19, and most crews, WSU’s MV8+ included, had two races that day. Beginning at 8:40am, a shortened course (1,750 meters) was used for time trials. Like a head race, crews raced single-file, crossing the start line at racing pace—the epitome of racing against the clock.

Notre Dame topped the field at 5:09.711, followed over the next five seconds by George Washington University, Michigan Rowing Association, UCLA, Virginia Rowing Association, Minnesota and Rutgers. Only Minnesota was an anomaly–the other six reached the finals and finished near what the time trial predicted. WSU clocked 5:19.815, finishing 11th, one place ahead of our number 12 seeding, less than a half-second behind Bucknell at 5:19.468. The proximity to Bucknell was significant; three crews ahead of us, Minnesota, Orange Coast and Purdue, would soon find out what a difference two days and 250 meters can make.

Twenty-four crews rowed in four separate evening Repechage races. WSU won its heat and turned in the fastest 2k finish of the night to advance to the Saturday Semis. Now let’s talk serious racing.

MV8+ Petite Final

The last race of the regatta was the MV8+ Grand Final at 1:00pm Sunday afternoon. The penultimate contest was the MV8+ Petite Final at 12:52. In it, WSU’s MV8+ rowed one of the most awesome races I have seen, and I have seen thousands. Watch it here: https://shorturl.at/aCPW7 (Scroll/advance to 5:39.00 for the start. Note: there are controls in the lower right corner of the screen. If your system can handle it, the HD setting is preferable.)

The race announcer was fond of saying “If a crew is ahead at 500 meters in, it is either fast or it has worked too hard to be there.” The Cougs had few worries in this regard. They were 3-4 seats behind the field just 13 seconds off the stake boat.

By 35 seconds in, WSU in lane 3 had fallen to sixth place, with just a deck-length of contact with race leaders Bucknell in 2 and Minnesota in 4. Orange Coast in 1, Purdue in 5 and Rhode Island in 6 were all about half a length out of first. At the 500 meter mark, the smart money boys were not betting on WSU. The Cougs were keeping their own counsel and sticking to plan.

Two minutes in, Bucknell and Minnesota were still within a

May 19–21, Oak Ridge, TN

couple of seats. Third-place Purdue was half a length down. The Cougs had claimed their first victim, overtaking URI and trading bow balls with Orange Coast, each clinging to a deck-length contact with the leaders.

Approaching the 1,000 meter mark at 2:55, Bucknell had a solid two seat lead over Minnesota; Purdue and WSU were contending for third place, both bow balls at Minnesota’s four seat and Bucknell’s six.

At 1,000 meters, Bucknell had jumped to four seats over Minnesota and Minnesota held about the same lead over WSU and Purdue. Orange Coast was victim number two, now in serious difficulties, with open water showing between it and the leaders.

MV8+ PETITE FINAL FINISH: WSU 0.75 SECONDS BEHIND BUCKNELL.

WSU’s bow man had drawn even with Bucknell’s coxswain. The Cougars’ poise and unflagging, efficient 36 spm had taken them from last place at 100 meters and put them at the halfway point within striking distance of Minnesota and Bucknell’s battle for first. Purdue was victim number three and would soon fade to sixth place. The Cougars’ 36 kept swinging steady as a metronome. They crept slowly but steadily into contention and their adversaries could do nothing about it.

At 3:40, WSU’s bow man pulled even with Bucknell’s stroke and Minnesota’s five man. At four minutes, Bucknell’s lead over Minnesota was steady at four seats up but Minnesota, over-stroking the Cougs by two beats, now led them by just three seats. At 5:00, the Cougs were trading bow balls with Minnesota. With less than a minute to the finish, the Cougs overtook their fourth victim.

In the closing 500, Minnesota, which had opened at 43 spm and settled at 38 faded to 36 and watched the Cougs row past, besting them by 1.2 seconds or about six seats. The Cougs had 4.6 seconds (open water) over fourth-place Orange Coast (the same crew that beat us by nine seconds at WIRA) and conceded to Bucknell by less than a second, somewhere between three and four seats. This was one of the rare moments when a crew

executes its plan to perfection. Hats off to Bucknell for being ever-so-slightly faster that day.

Placing second in the Petite Final made the Cougs the eighth-fastest crew in a field of 30—our third-best ACRA finish so far. Note the four-place jump over last year’s 12th place finish and this year’s 12th place seed.

Real Time Race Reactions

Paul Enquist texted: “Just watched the V8. I’m speechless. Great race, great plan, great result. I would have loved to race with your guys as a teammate. Well rowed. Well done. Pass along my congratulations.”

Dave Emigh’s response: “Not sure I’ve ever seen a better job by any stroke oar! Sean willed/drove WSU relentlessly down the course.”

Coach Brevick replied: “The team has navigated lots of adversity the past few years. I am proud of them all, the seniors especially. Very happy Sean had a great race to finish his commodore year.”

STOP THE PRESSES! After reviewing a draft of this article, Paul emailed the editor: “Dave’s quote of my txt is accurate. However, here’s what I originally wrote: ‘I’m speechless and have tears

PHOTO: ROW2K.COM

streaming down my cheeks. I’m so happy and proud of those guys.’ We should all feel that way about this year’s results.”

Results

Complete ACRA Results: https://shorturl.at/pEHT2

Note the tabs on the upper left, one per day. A quick look shows how close the finishes were. In the MV8+ races, no more than eight or nine seconds separated first from sixth place in most of the Finals. UCLA, one of WSU’s legendary adversaries, took home the gold in 5:53.010. If we do not misread the tea leaves, WSU will be closing that 10-second gap much sooner than UCLA expects.

The Class of ’23 Legacy

Three graduating seniors entered WSU in the Fall of 2019 as Freshmen. Sean Swett, Mark Walker-Rittgers and Don Kelly were training for their first racing season when Covid shut everything down in March 2020. The men’s side shrank to about a dozen athletes in the spring of 2021, but Sean, Mark and Don contributed much of the work that kept the team together.

I (Dave) visited Pullman the week before ACRAs, and I told them that the crew alumni understand and appreciate their efforts to sustain the squad through the pandemic. I told them that even though they are graduating, their four years of great work will continue to contribute to the future success of the team. Then they went to Oak Ridge and put their names in the Cougar Crew history books.

In just the third 1x race of his sculling career, Kelly finished second in the Petite Final; making him eighth in a field of 19 in the Varsity Men’s Single. The first heat was his 1x racing debut and his second race was the semi-final.

Swett is Commodore and has stroked the eight three seasons. Walker-Rittgers is Vice-Commodore and rows seven seat. Sean and Mark achieved the team’s top ergometer scores for the 2022–2023 season. In the Petite Final, their boat mates did a superb job of matching them stroke for stroke in what was clearly a punishingly long, strong and unforgiving 36 spm. Mark has been invited to a Training/Selection Camp for the 2023 World University Games to be held in China in August. We wish him the best.

—Dave Emigh (75) and Rich “Flip” Ray (80)

From the Commodore

Going into the 2022–2023 season, I had high hopes for the program, although I was nervous about how a team of mostly new rowers would do. My doubts were quickly swept away once the season started. It was awesome to have a group of guys who were all so new to the sport and yet so eager to learn. This team had no egos and no bickering. Everyone was determined to use each stroke to get better as a boat. This showed throughout the season. Each race was much better than the last, as was showcased perfectly at Oak Ridge. We had no clue how well we would do. Placing 11th in the time trial was a pleasant surprise. I was just hoping we could make the B Final again. After winning our Rep and advancing to the Semis, the team was hungrier than ever. We stamped a solid time in the Semis (6:15.764), advancing to the B Final. In our last race of the season, we rowed five seconds faster than an Orange Coast crew that beat us at WIRA’s by almost 10 seconds. A very close second in the ACRA Petite Final was a great way to cap my rowing career at Washington State, and a testament to Peter’s coaching skills and the trust the team has in him and in the training process he teaches.

—Sean Swett (23)

TEAM OFFICERS 2022–2023

Sean Swett, Men’s Commodore

Mark Walker-Rittgers, Men’s Vice Commodore

Alex Carper, Women’s Vice Commodore

Steven Collet, Treasurer

Kyle Hole, Recruiting

Cooper Page, UREC Liaison

Aaron Sangha, Webmaster/historian

See a full team roster and photos at: cougarcrew.com/roster

Coach Brevick Reflects On the Season

At every season’s end, I see events and outcomes I couldn’t imagine on day one—some negative, some positive. This year’s setbacks were tough, so the successes were twice as satisfying.

In fall 2021, eight experienced rowers returned. Two recruits were experienced, so a core of 10 athletes was our start to the post-Covid rebuild. Last fall, we had 17 returning rowers, including five from the 2021–2022 MV8+. The additional experience improved our performance metrics on the ergs and on the water. On several practice days we boated six eights—great to see and a big boost to morale. We had graduated some great teammates, including the first coxswain Commodore, and an ergometer record setter, but I could feel the optimism rising.

Momentum took a hit with illness and injury, so fall 2022 racing was not as good as we hoped. Come spring, lingering injuries took two athletes out for the season. A third oar, Don Kelly, returned to training only days before departure for Oak Ridge.

The first few races of the year were solid but subdued performances. As the season progressed, speed improved gradually in both our training and racing. Enthusiasm and energy were high as we made final preparations for ACRA 2023.

Climbing the ladder

We treat each race as a step on the ladder, aiming to peak at ACRAs. This season we executed to plan.

ACRAs began with a time trial Friday morning. The MV8+ expected to be in the reps, same as last year. A solid performance in the repechage led to the A/B Semifinals on Saturday. Unlike last year’s Semifinal, we were in the mix early, and while we missed the Grand Final, finishing ahead of Purdue and Orange Coast had us looking forward to the Petite Final.

In Sunday’s Petite Final, we were a little slow off the stake boat, but the crew did a great job trusting themselves and each other and moved steadily through the field for a really strong second place finish at 6:03.124, just ¾ second behind Bucknell. I am confident Paul Enquist’s talk in Smith Hall had an impact on this

race. With just three athletes returning, this year’s MV8+ jumped four places (from 12th to 8th) over last year. The crew and the team are very proud of that performance.

Three things to celebrate

We had more strong results during the weekend, as you will read in Mike Klier’s look at our small boats. I was particularly proud of the varsity eight for three reasons.

First, the speed of our fastest boat is a testament to the work and speed demonstrated by ALL our student-athletes, rowers and coxswains alike. The admirable performance of the MV8+ in the Petite Final was evidence of the growing depth of the squad.

Second, the positive attitude and support for the team from our three injured varsity oars was inspirational. Their seasons were terribly compromised, but they continued to give their best at practices and as team leaders throughout the season.

Third, leadership from our fourth-year seniors was exceptional. Don Kelly, Mark Walker-Rittgers, and Sean Swett started rowing in the fall of 2019. Six months in, the pandemic struck. For three plus years, all three of them led the team with their energy, attitudes, hard-earned strength and stamina. Whether they were offering support on the water, sharing their perspective in after-practice debriefings, shouting encouragement during an erg workout, or just leading by example, they set a high standard through some of the most difficult years in team history. I have great respect for every rower and coxswain that has earned the privilege of representing WSU. I have an extra level of respect for these three.

To everyone that raced for WSU this year, thank you for your effort and dedication! To Sean, Mark, and Don, thank you for leading so well through such challenging circumstances. To the alumni and supporters of Cougar Crew, I speak for the entire team when I say thank you! What we do would be impossible without your steadfast and generous support. On to 2023–2024, and as always, Go Cougs!

—Peter Brevick (06), Head Coach

THE TEAM AT WIRA CHAMPIONSHIPS, LAKE NATOMA, CA

2022–2023 Coaching Staff

Heads up! In 2024 the CCAA will be honoring all coaches current and past at Cougar Crew Days. Spread the word to coaches from your rowing years.

Peter Brevick (06)

Peter turned out for rowing after hearing it was “A good sport for big people.” He counts resurrecting The Pull Hard, winning some tanks, placing 5th at IRAs and serving as Commodore among his highlights. Peter began coaching novices as a Volunteer Assistant while completing undergraduate work. He returned to WSU as Novice Coach in 2011–2012. After Pullman, Peter coached five years with the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation and the OKC Riversport Junior program. In 2017, Peter accepted the Head Coach position in Pullman.

John Michael Najarian (20)

John Michael began rowing with Bainbridge Island Rowing club. In 2015 he competed at US Rowing Youth Nationals in Sarasota, FL, and came to WSU in the Fall of 2016. In his senior year, John Michael served as Men’s Commodore for the 2019-2020 season. He earned a B.S in Civil Engineering in 2020. The following year he accepted a position as Graduate Assistant Coach while pursuing a Master’s in Civil Engineering, focusing on research in global ground and surface water budgeting methodologies.

Daniella Du Toit (UMass 19)

Daniella hails from Harare, Zimbabwe, where she rowed in high school at Chisipite Boat Club, beginning 2009. In 2013, she represented Zimbabwe at the 2013 Junior World Championships in Galve/Trakal, Lithuania. In 2014, she competed in the Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China. As an undergraduate, Daniella rowed for UMass Amherst (2015–2019) and rowed the 1x for Zimbabwe at Rowing World Cup II in Linz Ottenschiem, Austria in 2018. As a Graduate Assistant Coach, Daniella is pursuing an MS in Food Science.

Bjorn Elliot (20)

Bjorn started life in Sicily, lived briefly in Denmark and grew up on Whidbey Island. His first contact with the sport was direct recruitment by Coach Arthur Ericsson, at an Alive (new and potential student orientation) session in the summer of 2016. Coach Arthur persuaded Elliot that WSU was his best choice. After losing his senior year of racing to the pandemic, Bjorn has returned as a Volunteer Assistant Coach, partly for the innate satisfaction of coaching and partly to get some positive closure for his years on the Snake.

Scott Morgan (74)

Scott came to WSU in September 1972 as a junior college transfer from Pasadena, CA. Asked to turn out his junior year, he declined but changed his mind as a senior rowing under Coach Ken Struckmeyer. Scott and his wife Brenda live near Palm Springs, CA. Now a retired CPA/city finance director, Scott has returned during the fall and spring to the Palouse, where he is helping Peter and the staff. Besides enjoying his daily interaction with the team, he looks forward to using his financial background to assist as well.

Homecoming: The David M. Emigh

Remembering our history is a vital part of Cougar Crew. Dave Arnold pulled the first 50 years together in PULL HARD. We have many more stories than could fit in one book, but the spirit of our collective effort plays out in each personal history.

An ongoing effort to share the narrative of Cougar Crew with the general university community and current rowers is one of our most promising alumni initiatives. Mike Klier (75) and Jim Rudd (75)have spearheaded a 15-year effort to collect what remains of the material history of the team’s early years. The bow-half skeleton of one of our first shells, the 101, now looks down on current athletes, building their ergometer scores in the Hollingberry Field House Erg Room. An interpretive display on the wall details the 101’s modest contribution to the dawn of Cougar rowing.

Rudd and Klier also searched for the team’s first eight ever purchased, the Cougar One. Only the bow of that boat survives. It will be made presentable and join the 101 in the Field House. Search for the Cougar One led to the discovery of another early WSU eight. The David M. Emigh was found in a restaurant in Colorado. This classic wooden Pocock shell displays boatbuilder’s craft that disappeared with the advent of affordable aerospace composite materials. The boat was for sale and CCAA had to move

A storied Pocock 8 will soon hang in the student recreation center

quickly. In true seat-of-our-pants Cougar Crew fashion, the shell was purchased and soon came home to Pullman.

Current plans, already well underway, call for displaying the shell in the Student Recreation Center above the casual seating area. Many hundreds of people use the SRC every day. This will put the sport of rowing in front of thousands of campus fitness enthusiasts, some of whom will surely be recruits. If you attended CCD 2023, the Emigh will hang to the right of the ramp leading up to this year’s Ice Breaker.

Klier and Rudd have enlisted fellow founding club members Tony Shapiro (75, architect) and Rich Stager (74, civil engineer) to design/build the display structure. A July work party in Pullman and Wawawai will refinish the vessel.

Opportunity costs of purchase, transport and display are estimated somewhat north of $20,000. If you rowed in the David M. Emigh, rowed for Dave when he coached, or just know Dave as colleague or friend, please consider helping underwrite this exciting homecoming. The best way to do so is to make a dedicated contribution to the Cristy Cook Memorial account (https://tinyurl. com/5n83n8wv). Twenty contributions of $1,000 will put us in the black, so please be generous. Equally important, please call one or two of your boatmates and encourage them to follow your example. Also, put “Dave Emigh display support” in the comment section so we can track these donations.

— Doug Engle (79)

UREC STUDENT RECREATION CENTER ENTRY LOBBY LOUNGE. LEFT, THE ELEVATED RUNNING TRACK FROM WHICH THE DAVID M. EMIGH WILL HANG ABOVE THE CASUAL SEATING AREA PHOTO: DOUG ENGLE. INSET: ARCHITECT’S RENDERING, SHAPIRO ARCHITECTS PS.

THE EMIGH IN ITS HEYDAY. POST-LIGHT 8+ VICTORY, PROBABLY BELLINGHAM INVITATIONAL, CIRCA 1979. L-R: REAR: MIKE NOBLE (82), TIM RICHARDS (84), BOB LEX (84), KEITH KESSELRING (83), ANDY KIRK (82). FRONT: TOM ANDERSON (80), TOM CAUDILL (80), MARK PETRIE (82), LISA (COBLE) CURTIS (84), COXSWAIN. PHOTO: LISA CURTIS

Missing, Presumed Lost

For two years following the loss of the Almota shellhouse to high winds, the Cougar Crew rowed in borrowed or rented outdated equipment. Four shells from that era, all loaned by UW coach Dick Erickson, were total losses, victims of the merciless Snake or avoidable accident. On Saturday, March 9, 1974 that changed for the first time in the history of the program when the Cougar One (8+) and the Spirit of ’73 (4+) were christened in the Coliseum at half-time of the Dad’s weekend WSU-UW basketball game.

The One and the Spirit were the first new Pocock shells acquired by the program. The crew sold buttons, programs at basketball games, held car washes and pledged their own money to fund the purchase price of the ’73. Both shells arrived at Almota late in 1973, their formal christening ceremony postponed for what the membership believed to be a venue worthy of the milestone. Both hulls were sold or given away in the ’90s. We spent 15 years in an effort to find these shells or learn their fate.

Our search began with inquiries to WSU Administration in the hope that some documentation of the sale or transfer of these shells had been retained. Nothing of help was uncovered at the time and repeated attempts, the last in calendar year 2022, added nothing. There simply was no information to be had.

Jim contacted every major restaurant in the state of Washington, inquiring after the possible acquisition of a shell for display. Rowing programs from Anchorage to San Diego were contacted with descriptions of the shells and requests for information. We

The long slow search for the club’s first shells

—Mike Klier (75) and Jim Rudd (75)

located the buyer for the TGI Friday’s restaurant chain. An hour’s discussion produced a single insight: he had never acquired a hull owned by the State of Washington. A rumored boatyard in the San Diego desert proved to be just that. We enlisted the help of a Seattle local who brokers deals and finds homes for vintage Pocock cedar shells, joined a nation-wide organization dedicated to the preservation of wooden shells and called Pocock Racing in search of the construction serial numbers. We contacted those who rented rowing hardware, searched restaurant review sites for photos of the decor and published a request for information in the Pull Hard. Nothing.

For several years we held out hope that a RAM Corporation warehouse in Seattle might hold one or both of these shells. Efforts to inventory the contents were delayed by the corporation’s other priorities and Covid. For a moment though, we thought we had her.

A shell of Cougar One vintage was seen inverted in a photo taken in a RAM Corporation restaurant. Viewed from below with no christened name evident, she had victory chevrons in number and color apparently identical to the One. A quick call to our patient and considerate point-of-contact at RAM resulted in an instant reply: “That is the John Bracken II”. Clearly, he was very familiar with the corporation’s holdings. Our persistent belief that

BEASLEY COLISEUM, MARCH 9, 1974. CHRISTENING OF THE COUGAR ONE AND SPIRIT OF ’73. PHOTO: LEN MILLS

BEASLEY COLISEUM, MARCH 9, 1974. CHRISTENING THE SPIRIT OF ’73 L-R: WALT NELSON, COMMISSIONER, PORT OF WHITMAN COUNTY AND JIM SHEA, FIRST LESSEE AND CONCESSIONAIRE, BOYER PARK & MARINA. NELSON AND SHEA CONTRIBUTED TO THE PURCHASE OF THE SHELL ON THE URGING OF THEIR FRIEND KEN ABBEY.

PHOTO: DAILY EVERGREEN

this was not the case proved delusional. Finally, and reluctantly, we accepted his comment, repeated many times over the years: “I think we do not have your shells.”

One of the last people to row the One before her removal reports that she was nearly used-up and in tough shape. Our contact in the preservation community stated that a shell near end-of-life acquired by an active program in the ’90s was typically used to exhaustion then broken up. This was the transition era to the composite hull and a fragile, sprung, wooden shell merely occupied space that could be put to better use.

It is frustrating to note that our search, our digging, our requests for information, all the sleuthing and brainstorming, the wishful thinking, the prodding, and all our hope produced not a single solid lead, not one thread that could be pulled, not one single reason to doubt the burn-pile theory. We abandoned hope and acquired two vintage replacement shells intended as substitute on-campus display articles.

On December 13, 2022, we received a call from founding member Dave Emigh. The bow of the Cougar One had been in his attic for 25 years. Re-decked and with her name sanded off, he believed the relic was from another shell. Prompted by an ad offering for sale the shell he believed was in his attic, a closer inspection revealed the faint outline of the original name under the varnish.

The One had gone to Lake Oswego Rowing Club in Portland, OR, and was destroyed in 1995 when extreme high water on the Willamette River caused LORC’s boathouse to flood. Evidence suggests the ’73 was also at LORC and lost at the same time.

The bow of the Cougar One has been returned to the program. We have retained the services of a boat-builder to restore it for display.

—Mike Klier (75) and Jim Rudd (75)

Alumni News

Cedar Cunningham - USRowing U23 Camp Invite

Cedar Cunningham (22, Finance) was invited to the 2023 Under 23 National Team Sculling Selection Camp in Conshocken, PA, scheduled to run late June through early July. Cedar’s is the first selection camp invite for a Coug grad in many years. In a stellar two-year career at WSU, Cedar began rowing as a sophomore and graduated as a Junior, leaving a significant impact on the program. Cunningham earned a seat in the varsity eight both years on the team and, shortly before ACRA’s in 2022, set a new all-time mark for WSU on the erg, going 6:04.9. Following graduation, he moved east to train with the PennAC Summer Program before graduating to the PennAC High Performance USRowing feeder program. Invitation to a National Team camp is a major achievement. We wish him the best in his rowing efforts.

Alan Scott & Corrine Wayman Tie a Crew Knot

On Saturday, June 17, 2023, former Cougar Crew rower Alan Scott (11) and coxswain Corrine Wayman (13) said “I do” in front of family and friends from around the country at a winery in Paso Robles, CA. Present were 11 fellow Cougar Crew alums to round out a fantastic weekend with a surprise mini-reunion. Congratulations Corrine and Alan!

ARLINGTON, WA, NOVEMBER 5, 2022. L-R: PETER BREVICK (06), JOHN HOLTMAN (81), SID DARVILL, STEVE RANTEN (79), MIKE PABISZ (81), TIM MALKOW (79). KNEELING, L-R: FRED DARVILL (77), MIKE KLIER (75). JUST LOADED: COLONEL CS SMITH, GOLDEN GATE 1-1 (WSU DISPLAY HULL), W.L.L. (SEQUIM MUSEUM DISPLAY HULL).

PHOTO: AL MACKENZIE

Pull Hard!

Finding Grit and Purpose on Cougar Crew, 1970–2020

Full disclosure: in the volume here considered, reference has been made to the author of this review. Pessimists keep predicting the end of reading, but the presses thunder on, steady as the rain. Seldom (pretty much never) do we read from the pages of our own lives. Dave Arnold’s Pullhard! Finding Grit and Purpose on Cougar Crew is an instance of quality nonfiction that checks an unlikely combination of “real book” boxes.

First, Arnold is a qualified, practicing, published academic historian. Second, he writes in a friendly, approachable (vernacular?) style; his target audience is general, he makes no visible appeal to an identifiable circle of scholarly specialists. Third, Finding Grit resists category. Publishers must categorize, so on the upper left corner of the back cover we read: “SPORTS HISTORY/ ROWING.” Nice try.

Finding Grit is much more. It is a careful, close look at the growth, since 1970, of the original US collegiate sport: the arcane, mystifying, vaguely cult-like métier of rowing. It is also a case study of one state university rowing club from inception (1968) right up to publication. It has the earmarks of Oral History, including conversations, many recorded, with important principals. But the data set is wider, including unpublished personal documents and testimonies; WSU Manuscripts, Archives and Special Col-

book note

Arnold holds up a mirror to the people and events that built Cougar Crew.

lections; and a variety of more conventional sources on topics ranging from river water management, masculinity and Title IX to the history of rowing and patterns of undergraduate academic success.

Arnold outlines his vision of the book in his Acknowledgments: “This is not a definitive history…It is an interpretive history that uses some stories and some individuals as emblematic of a larger narrative.” Admirably modest risk mitigation statement! His accomplishment is to analyze and explicate those sources into an account which will be the astrolabe of WSU rowing for years to come. A few errors of fact have already been identified—definitive proof that this book has an active, alert readership. It deserves an even wider audience.

Primarily of interest to anyone who rowed at Washington State University or otherwise participated in the development of Cougar rowing, it should also be helpful to anyone curious about the sport of rowing generally, current events and issues in collegiate athletics or even individuals contemplating starting a rowing program.

Last Things: Any attempt to chronicle half a century, no matter how diligent the work or how limited the subject, will inevitably suffer errors of fact. The meaning of history is subjective and differs from one observer to the next. Facts are facts and must be corrected. CCAA has begun collecting corrections for Finding Grit. By crowd-sourcing this work, we can lighten Dave’s load and improve future editions of this essential account of how Cougar Crew came to be. If you find an error, please submit a correction here: https://www.cougarcrew.com/pull-hard-book-corrections. Arnold is donating all royalties he receives from the book to Cougar Crew.

—Rich “Flip” Ray (80)

. . . I settle on the bench in my small boat, the main thwart, put the oars in the rowlocks and ease the blades into the green sea. I can’t help but feel the ancientness of it, my own life woven into the fabric of the past. The boat slips forward in a dream of liquidity, released from ploddingness into a kind of flight. With each stroke—a pull, the bending of the shaft of the oar as it is drawn against the water, the sucking puddle as the blades exit and then their dripping onto the perfect skin of the sea—I join the continuous past. Whoever first made a boat, even a simple punt driven forward with a pole, or a dugout with a basic paddle, must have seen and felt this fluency as a kind of magic, a suspension of the earthbound rules of existence.

—Adam Nicolson, Why Homer Matters (New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2014)

David Arnold, Pull Hard! Finding Grit and Purpose on Cougar Crew, 1970-2020 (Pullman: WSU Press, 2021) softcover, $29.95

Flotsam & jetsam from the ocean of world literature

Financially Speaking

Our Fiscal Year runs July 1 to June 30. The annual budget for the crew is now running about $400,000. For the second consecutive year, our outside income (funds not supplied by WSU or the athletes) has exceeded $200,000. As of this writing, Fiscal Year 2023 netted $201,653 from 456 contributors (see donor list on page 20). $168,847 went to operations and $32,806 went to endowments.

Endowments

Cougar Crew’s first endowment account opened in 1976. Currently, eight endowments total about $600,000. Interest income of 4% on these monies (approaching $24,000) deposits directly to the Cristy Cook Memorial Fund—our cash box and operating account.

Two new endowments were established in 2023. The Iseminger Family Cougar Crew Club Endowment was established by Ernie & Alice Iseminger. Ernie (88) rowed four years and coached for eight. The Anderson Legacy Cougar Crew Endowment was established by Tom Anderson (80) and daughter Julia (Anderson) Collins (06). Tom and Julia are our first legacy family, having both rowed for the team.

Cougar Crew Days 2023

Nearly 300 guests joined our annual banquet and auction, netting just over $127,600. Of this, $86,100 has been deposited to the Cristy Cook operating account, specific chunks designated for charter bus travel and Assistant Coach salary. Additionally, $41,500 in gifts and pledges have been or will be deposited to endowments.

Bottom line? One of our healthiest years to date, financially speaking.

—Doug Engle (79)

FEEL THE SWING. SUPPORT THE CREW

Power 10 Campaign

Donate a recurring amount each and every month to help offset the team’s day-to-day training and competition expenses. Go to the support page and click Power 10 to sign up. Frequent, small donations like these go a long way!

Cristy Cook Memorial Fund

This longstanding fund is the team’s primary operating account for managing travel, coaching salaries, equipment, and more. The fund was established in 1986 by the Cook family to honor the memory of Cristy Cook who rowed 1979–1980 and whose life was cut short by a tragic car accident returning from the river.

Endowment Funds

Eight endowment funds provide support for Cougar Crew, including, but not limited to equipment, travel, student support and coach compensation. The funds are managed by the WSU Foundation.

The origins of these funds illustrate the rich history of Cougar Crew and forever link the individuals for whom they are named to the team. Read the full stories on the support page.

WSU Crew Endowment, 1976

Meinhart Endowment, 1987

Struckmeyer-Burkhart Endowment, 2017

Tim Richards ’80 Cougar Crew Endowment, 2018

Paul Hensel Memorial Endowment, 2021

Huhta Family Cougar Crew Endowment, 2022

The Iseminger Family Endowment, 2023

Anderson Legacy Cougar Crew Endowment, 2023

Legacy Stewards & Planned Giving

All gifts to the crew are handled through the WSU Foundation and are tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law. The WSU Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that is structurally separate from Washington State University and exists solely for WSU’s benefit, serving as the preferred channel for private gifts to all areas of the University.

For help making a gift, please contact the WSU Foundation’s Gift Accounting Office at (509) 335-1686 or by email at wsuf.gift.accounting@wsu.edu.

Legacy Stewards are individuals who have had the foresight to include Cougar Crew in their estate plans. Becoming a steward is simply a matter of advising the WSU Foundation that you have included Cougar Crew in your will. The WSU Foundation’s Gift Planning Office can answer questions and assist with all aspects of setting up these gifts as well as many other options for planned giving to support the crew. gpoffice@wsu.edu, (509) 335-6686.

cougarcrew.com/support

Once a bootstrap operation, alumni support makes Cougar Crew a going concern

Thank You! Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Supporters

The list below reflects the individuals and organizations that contributed in the Fiscal Year ended June 30, as well as those newly pledged to contribute in Fiscal Year 2023-24.

Pedro C. Alegre Jr.

Milos Aleksic

American Online Giving Foundation •

Jonathan Walker Ames ••

Larry & Barbara Anderson

Eric & Janet Anderson •

Jacob Edward Anderson

Michael & Rebecca Anderson

Thomas C. Anderson •

Colleen & Patrick

Andreotti •

Anonymous

Bob & Sandy Appleby

Robert & Christine

Appleyard •

Michael & Karin Argo

Jennifer Arlington

Nancy M. Arlington

Jeffrey Ryan Arnevick •

David & Arienne Arnold •

Jeff Aselin •

Lola Rose Aselin

David Atherton & Moira Campbell •

James & Kim Austin •

Shawn Andrew Bagnall

Larry & Jennie Bailey •

Chris Bailey-Greene

Haley M. Bakke

Beth Ann Bakulich

Kenneth Bartline & Virginia Biskey

Bob Barton ••

Greg Barton

Michele Eleanor Barton

Ann Bazilwich

Blaine & Susan Beardsley •

John Bell

Rachel Bellinghausen

Griffin Edward Berger •

Sheldon Birch ••

Miles Bird •

Brian & Irene Birdsall

Vanessa Adele Blake •

Jodi Bloom

Michael Bloom

Robert Bloom

Tami Bloom

Glen & Sherri Bodman

Jeff Boggs

Jacques Bouchy

August Boyle •

Larry Boyle

Monica H. Boyle

Laurie M. Brady

Danny & Rachel Brevick •

Dale & Kris Brevick

Peter Douglas Brevick •

Jacob John-Ivor Brisson •

Doug Brown

Robin Lynn Brown •

PULL HARD

Blake Bryson ••

Mike & Sandy Buckley

Nathan Allan Budke •

Kimberli Busick

Leslie Phillip Busick

Ethan Byrne

Kim & Shaun Callan

Carmeleta Calo

Christine Calpin

Geraldine Calvez

Mr. & Mrs. Brian Campbell •

Karen M. Campbell

Justin N. Carlo •

Jennifer Carper

Ralph Carper

Jenny Cassano-Strachan ••

Tom Caudill •

Jeffrey Chaska

Hsiao Hsiung Chen

Leo Chen

Elizabeth Chilton & Michael Sugerman

Szu-Chi Chiu

Terry Christensen

Darrin & Lisa Clark •

Drew S. Clark

Josh Clearman ••

Audrey Clifton

Filippa Clifton

Michael Clifton

Margaret Ann Coddington

Marc S. Cohen

Ronald & Teresa Cole

Harrison Taylor Collet

Lori & Roeland Collet

Graham & Danielle

Condit •

Jeffrey D. Corwin •

Robert Paul Cote •

Roger & Tammy Crawford

Holly Cristina

David Curran & Debra Keating •

Craig & Lisa Curtis •

Terra L. Dabling

Frederick & Lauren Darvill

Karol E. Darville

Andi Day •

Brian DeBruhl

Teresita Dellapenna

John & Shirley DeLong •

Darrin L. Dennis

Susan Dennis-Belden

Amy Devere

Gayle Devere

Juliana Devere

James & Kimberly Devere

John T. Dolan

Carl Dominguez

Julia Downing

Darrell & Mary Drugge

Jeff Earle ••

David Allen Ek

Thomas Michael Eldridge Sr.

Bjorn Blide Elliott

Matt S. Elliott

Dave & Jill Emigh

Doug & Renee Engle •

Paul & Lisa Enquist

Tony Enzler ••

Amanda Erison

Donald & Melinda

Ernsdorff •

Matthew & Greta Estes

Murray & Dian Etherington

Brandi Faith

Cynthia Fajardo

Colby David Farvour

Denise Leigh Fast

Julie Ferguson

Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund

Judy Finn

Emily Fischer ••

John Fletcher

James Flynn & Marcia Muto •

Tyler Fotheringill

Ernie Gabriel

Mark A Gabriel

Tina M. Gabriel

Katherine L. Garneau

Nino Gaetano

John Thomas Gehring

Jessica Giessert

Janice Gillette

Jill H. Gillette

Thomas Glouner

Brendan Glounder

Manuel Gomes

Mark Gomes

Jess Goodwin •

David & Maria Gore

Jennifer Gorman

Robert T. Gorman

Thomas Gould & Virginia McCabe •

Josh Gray ••

Laura Greenwell

Jim Gressard, DVM •

Franci Griffith

Peter Grosvenor

Chris & Linda Gulick

Robert & Pamela Gunderson

Megan J. Haas

Steve Haas

Susan G. Haas

Braden C. Haberthur

Dianne Hall

Marietta Hall •

Sean Halsted & Sarah

Washington-Halsted

Jesse Hansen

Nicole A. Hare

Mahalakshmi Hariharan

Diana E. Harris

Margaret Harris

Robert & Sheri Harrison

Dan Haskell

Sharyn Hedbloom

Garrett Alan Heiman

Anthony & Melinda Hensel •

David Todd Herrick •

Ryan James Herrington •

Ann Heskett-Rorie •

Roger & Barbara Heskett

Barbara J. Hill

Julie A. Hirsch

Cassie Marie Hodgin

Mark Wesley Hoffman •

Roger Holcombe ••

Charles Hole & Anne Jozaitis-Hole

Kyle Phillip Hole

Jacquelyn K. Holloway

Joyce M. Hoshall

Chen Yi Hua

Jason & Jennifer Hubbell

Sally Marie Hubbell

Jennifer Huffman

Karl Huhta •

Steve Huhta •

Ryan & Sarah Hui •

Richard Hull

Luke Lawrence Hunter •

Rene Hurtado

Yolanda G. Hurtado

Craig Randle Illman

Ernest & Alice

Iseminger •

Ron & Tracy Iseminger

Siri Ito

Anthony J. Jackson

Beverly Jackson

Heidi Jackson

Leslie A. Jackson

Adriana Janovich

Katherine Nan Johann

Alexandre Johnson •

Kirsten Jones

Lucas Boyd Jones •

Rachael Jones

Eralee Jordan

Ole & Tanya Jorgenson •

Anthony & Marie Jozaitis

Kathryn & Larry Kaatz

Kellie Kalvig

Dena & Marc Kaplan

Tamee Kaut

Christopher Keller

Darcy A. Kelly

Daren Kelly & Lisa Wilkins-Kelly

Dennis Kelly

Randy Kessler

Steve “Ivan” Kettel ••

Dawn Kight

Alan Michael Klier

Kathryn Klug

Mary Klug

Erik Ray Koetje

Dustin R. Krueger

Chris Kuranko ••

Shelly Lacroix •

John & Bonnie Lafer •

Chip Lang ••

Jane A. LaRiviere

Gayle C. Larse

Sandra Leavitt

Jeremiah Gunhee Lee

Rory W. Lee

Chung-Yu Lin

Li Wei Lin

Douglas & Carol Lindahl •

Tammy & David Lindberg

Jessica M. Lipe

William D. Lipe, PhD

SVN Cascades LLC

Nikki L. Lockwood

Jacob Brian Logar •

Paul Lund ••

Garrett Hahn Lyman •

Farell Lynda

Al Mackenzie

Mandy Main

Brian & Mariah Maki

Timothy John Malkow

Yana Maloylo

Guy Albert Marden •

Michael J. Marelli •

Sean Michael Martin •

Roy A. Matich

Rick Paul Maurice

John & Kristie McBride

Orion McCabe ••

Ciara McCall ••

Maura McCann

Kent & Rocio McCleary

Patty McClellan

Devon & Sara McCornack

Kerin Diane McKellar

Kent & Rocio McLeary

Henry McRae •

Peter & Starla Meighan

R.M. Miailovich

Michael D. Middendorf

William Boles Miedema

James J. Miller

Jeffrey Miller

John F. Mills

Kortnie K. Mills

Leonard & Lisa Mills

Stephanie Mills, PharmD

Brett & Alison Mitchell •

Tina Moe Morseth ••

David Morts

James M. Mueting

Mary K. Mueting

Dana Muirhead

David Muirhead

Julie Muirhead

Chequita Murphy

Dennis E. Murphy

Lynn C. Murphy

Michael & Carey Murphy

Sean Murphy

Timothy V. Murphy

Caroline Grace Najarian

John Najarian •

Susan Najarian

Paul Nelson Needham

Robert Brian Nehring

Carl Nelson & Katherine Runyon

John Jacob Nelson

Gunnar Joseph Newell

Tiffany Newell

Jean Nitchman

Sandra Nitchman

Sherry Nitchman

Steven P. Nitchman

Odoum Nith

Michael & Valerie Noble

Scott Nowak ••

Robert & Jeana Obom •

Alfred & Carol O’Dell

Jess & Victoria O’Dell

Lucas Jerome Olona

Jeff & Samantha Olson

Oregon Jewish Community Foundation

Andrew Osborne

Janel Osthoff

Mike & Lucy Pabisz

Jason & Lisa Page

Jenalle Lauren Pana

Stefan Papp

Ronald S. Paternoster

Kai Irving Patneaude

Alex Paulk

Zachelli Pena-Roldan

Jacqueline Heng Penner

Mark Richard Petrie

Richard O. Phillips

Tracy Pierson ••

Adrian Pimentel

Amy Piper

Petra Plasencia

David Anthony Plotz

Carrie Poole

Grete K. Popowicz

Steve Porter ••

Terry Pottmeyer

Joshua Lyle Proctor •

Mark & Kristen Prudhon

Patrick & Mary Pursley

Karen Pyott

Wendy Pyott

Hilda Quinones

Sarah S. Quint

Tami Rabin

Richard Ray & Kathleen Randall

Steve & Kari Ranten

Vickie Reich & Kurt Rathmann

David & Mary Reeder

Karl Reeves

Susan Reilly

Aaron Reiter ••

Richard & Brook Remington

Charles Owen Remington

Tim Richards, DVM

Gary Ricketts

Alex Rijn

Patrick Roche ••

Anne Rohosy

Jim & Vickie Rudd

Keith A. Rudie

Jason & Kari Sampson

Dirk A. Sanders

John William Sanders

John R. Santucci

Robert M. Santucci

Andy & Tracy Sawyer

Roberta Schmalenberger

Everett M. Schneider

Alan Scott ••

Mark R. Shaber •

William Shadel

Anthony & Siri Shapiro

Matthew Sheehan

Michael Sheremet

Justin Sherfey & Debrah Remlinger

Charlotte Shoup

Bradley & Martha Sleeper

Heidi Smith

Katherine Smith

Larry B. Smith

Lisa Smith

Nancy Smith

Thad Smith ••

Madeline Smolinski

Samantha Smolinski

Sophia Smolinski

Stephanie Joan Smolinski

Kevin Snekvik & Kathleen

McMenamin-Snekvik •

Hector Soto Nazario

P.A. Spans

Weston Rivers Spivia •

Philip & Pamela Sprute •

Richard & Elois Stager

Ken & Marj

Struckmeyer •

Joe Michael Sudar •

Missy & Rob Sullivan

Subramanian Sudaresan

Erik Sweet ••

Esther Swett

Geoffrey Swett

Sean Geoffrey Swett •

Shelvey Swett

David Symms

Nancy M. Symms

Ramon Tagorda

Ellen B. Taylor

Penney & Ronald Tee

Joey & Frankie Tennison •

Chad Tenzler

Allison Thomas •

Michael J. & Diane L. Thomas

Gailann Thomas-Black

Brandon S. Thornton

Lisa M. Thornton

Patricia Thornton

Gennifer Thummel

Jaime Lynn MeiMi Tom •

Juanita Tom

Eileen Tomsich

Michael Toyooka •

Stacy Toyooka

Beverly Ullrich

Donald Ullrich

Anna-Maria Vag

Robert & Rosemary VanCleef

Aksana Varashkevich

James & Claudia Verellen

Norm Vigre ••

La Velle S. Van Voast

Colby & Kori Voorhees

Ashley Vu •

Brandon Vukelich •

Kramer Jon Wahlberg •

James & Valerie Wainwright

Suzanne & Kylie Wakefield

Jessica Walker

Michele R. Walker

Stephanie Walker

Mark Walker-Rittgers ••

Michele Walker-Rittgers

Josh Walter ••

Kenneth Walter

Oliver & Sidney Walter ••

Dana Ward

William Warren

Mark Harris Wascher •

Alexander Weatbrook •

Kimberly Weber

Jeffrey D. Weiner

Alex Welch •

Brian Welch

Claudia Welch

Steve Wells & Anita Von

Oppenfeld ••

Carolyn & Steven Welsh

Rebecca White

Conor Widmann

Dawn M. Wiehe

Heather Wiehe

Tess Wilkins

Charley Curtis Wilkinson

Amy R. Williams

Erron & Jennifer Williams •

Mike Williams ••

Mitch & Kim Williams •

Sherrill Williamson

Gary Wilson

Hayden James Wise •

Jean & Ray Wittmier

Ingrid Wolf

Jesse Wolfe

Doug & Lori Wordell •

Dave Worley ••

Julie Worthington

Vincent Xaudaro & Coleen Thompson •

David & Pam Yorozu

Moya M. Zaboukos

Trevor Steven Zook •

Janette Zumbo

Jose Zuniga ••

• Power-10 member active in FY23

•• Power-10 member newly pledged for FY24

PO Box 641830

Pullman, WA 99164-1830

WSU Cougar Crew University Recreation