Felicity Powers The women of crew head back to the shell house after practice Tuesday morning.

"The potential's there," said junior Carley Bollen.

Although the women's varsity four crew lost two of its members from their national title run a year ago, Bollen believes that this year's boat can be just as good.

"Our goal is to go to nationals," she said, but right now "we're still bringing it together."

And they have come together well, winning the Daffodil Cup on American Lake for the third straight time, most recently on the last Saturday of March. The week prior in a scrimmage against Pacific Lutheran, the Falcons swept all four races to open their season on a positive note.

"That was way fun," said sophomore Ben Zupke.

Zupke, a novice on the men's varsity boat, said that the races against PLU were held at the canal where the Falcons regularly practice. Their two regattas since have been on lakes, which makes for rough water, he said. Wind and rain have tested the Falcons and their ability to control the boat in choppy water. "It's been a learning experience," Zupke said.

The Falcons adjusted to the conditions by switching to K4 boats designed for rough weather; however these bigger and slower boats are not something the crews are used to.

Despite the setbacks inflicted by Mother Nature, the Falcons have remained competitive. At the Daffodil Cup the men's varsity four took third place, while the women's novice team took fourth. The women's varsity crew finished seven seconds ahead of runner up University of Puget Sound.

The following weekend, April 2, the Falcons competed at the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference (NCRC) Invitational on Vancouver Lake. The women's varsity boat experienced a rare outing in which they did not medal, placing fourth out of five teams. The men's varsity finished third, however, as the women lost for only the fifth time in their last 28 outings, a period spanning three seasons.

The women's varsity boat has won national championships four of the last five years, but this time around they are without Heidi Visser and Sarah Zorn, linchpins from last year's team. Junior Alicia Apple, an alternate for the champion boat last year, becomes a regular, while fellow junior Megan Sweeney is promoted from the junior varsity boat. All crews must also adjust to new coxswains, as junior Megan Giske and sophomore Jeney Wierman are in their first year of crew.

Giske is the coxswain for the women's varsity crew, and Bollen raved about the seamless transition she has made. With no prior crew experience, Bollen said that Giske has learned the position rapidly and done a terrific job picking up where last year's boat left off.

"Everybody on the team is high quality," Zupke said. However, because the men's and women's crews combine for less than twenty members, "we cannot afford an injured person."

The Falcons look to continue to actualize their potential on Saturday as they drive to Eureka, Calif. to compete in the Blue Heron Redwood Sprints on Humboldt Bay. Bollen stressed the importance of mental preparation as the Falcons will have to adjust to the tide and possible inclement weather. She said the team must anticipate what they will be up against and prepare to conquer that.

Sounds like the attitude of a person confident in potential.