The Monday Morning Wash

The entire Husky womens fleet remained in national championship contention as a trio of crews earned berths to the national grand finals for the first time in seven seasons. The Huskies' second varsity eight crew convincingly won its repechage Saturday and the varsity eight was a semifinal runner-up during the second day of the NCAA Women's Rowing Championships on Lake Natoma. Both boats secured spots in their respective grand final races. UW's varsity four automatically advanced to its grand final field by virtue of a heat victory on Friday.


The Washington women's varsity four won a national title and the Huskies finished second in the team standings on the final day of the NCAA women's rowing championships, Sunday at Lake Natoma. The second-place performance was Washington's best since a runner-up effort in 2002.
The Huskies also earned the bronze medal in the second varsity eight and finished fifth in the varsity eight grand final.

Golf

Washington sophomore Nick Taylor fired a final-round score of 3-over 75 to finish in a tie for runner-up honors at the NCAA Div. I Men's Golf Championships held at Purdue's Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex, Saturday. Taylor, who led the Huskies to a seventh-place team finish, completed the 72-hole tournament at 1-over 289, just three shots behind NCAA champion Kevin Chappell from UCLA (2-under 286).

Washington moved up two spots on the team leaderboard during the final round, carding an 18-over 306 to finish the tournament at 56-over 1208. It marks the fourth top-10 NCAA finish for the Huskies in the last five years.

"When you consider that just a few weeks ago we were wondering whether or not we'd even get into the regional, and now we're in the top seven in the country, that's just amazing," Husky head coach Matt Thurmond said. "It was fun to play this week without many expectations. We felt great to be here and we knew could play really well and do what we did, if not more. But we didn't feel like we had pressure to do so. I'm just really proud of the guys and the way they competed, the poise they showed."

Hall of Fame

A quartet of All-Americans, a national coach of the year and a pair of national champion rowing squads are among the four individuals and two teams selected to enter the Husky Hall of Fame as its Class of 2008, the school's Big "W" Club announced today. The class is comprised of football player Blair Bush, former women's tennis coach Mary DeLay, record-setting baseball player Chris Magruder, women's soccer standout Hope Solo, football player Mark Stewart, the IRA national champion 1997 men's varsity eight crew and the NCAA team champion 1997 women's crew.