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by Pat Caraher
photography by Robert Hubner
 Varsity Four rowers Debbie Curry, Beth Winsper, Anna Lazarova, and Pam Foley rise to the challenge of rowing.
The slim, 60-foot racing shell glides seemingly without effort
against a backdrop of steep basalt cliffs. Eight women, each
pulling on a 12-and-a-half-foot oar, provide the power. The rowers
sit one behind another in individual seats that roll on tracks. In
unison they reach forward and pull back, using their legs for
leverage. Facing them in the boat's narrow stem, the coxswain barks
the cadence.
"Lock . . . send" and "power ten, on this one."
Given its landlocked location, people are surprised that
Washington State University has an intercollegiate women's rowing
program. Once a club sport, it was elevated to varsity status in
1990 as part of Title IX gender-equity legislation.
WSU rows on the Snake River, a few miles upriver from Lower
Granite Dam. The 2000-meter course, shell house, and docks are at
Wawawai Landing on the river's north side. At this point, the river
is one-half mile wide.
In more than 20 years as a rower and coach at WSU, Tammy
Crawford hasn't found a more scenic place to row. The river is
undisturbed except for the occasional steelhead fisherman. "We have
it all to ourselves," she says. "It's one of the best kept
secrets."
The isolated setting offers few distractions aside from nature
itself, says Emily Tribe, a junior rower from Melbourne, Australia.
She and 44 teammates make the 16-mile, 25-minute commute from
Pullman in three vans, the last leg winding down Wawawai
Canyon.
The sport "selects people out," Crawford says. Rowers are
competitive individuals willing to challenge themselves and others
athletically. They are stable, dedicated, and smart, as the
varsity's 3.10 grade-point average last year shows.
Limited to 156 days of rowing by the NCAA, WSU competes in the
fall and spring. The winter focus is on conditioning on campus.
Only 5 percent of the team rowed before college. The experiences
of the others include the traditional high school sports, as well
as water polo, rugby, hockey, netball, canoe paddling, even rodeo.
Twenty-seven of the rowers are Washingtonians. Some, like Tribe,
are international, from Canada, England, Slovakia, and Sweden.
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 From top: Rowers Emily Tribe, Jamie Orth, Carolyn Oury, Catherine Lortie, Dorothea Hunter.
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