Lindsay Mann-King recalls suffering from what she calls "post traumatic rowing syndrome."
"I was just lost. I didn't know what to do with myself," Mann-King said of the frustration she felt over the end of her team rowing career after playing a key role in three consecutive NCAA Division II championships at Western Washington University.

“Once a rower, always a rower,” NCAA Division II champion Hilary Gastwirth says when asked about her future.

At 22, Gastwirth possesses more experience than most of her peers, taking pride and ownership in winning three individual NCAA titles and was a member of the four-time NCAA II championship team.

It all began when she was 15. One day, she accompanied her mom to watch her cousin Casey Clingan compete on Lake Washington with the University of Washington crew team.

Yale University claimed the top spot in this week’s USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association NCAA Division I Varsity Eight Coaches Poll, while Western Washington University and Williams College topped the Division II and III polls, respectively.

With four freshmen sitting among its varsity eight and just two returners taking up the remaining four spots in their boat it's pretty clear that things are going to be a little different for the Western Washington University women's rowing team this season.

But the more things change for the four-time defending national champion Vikings, the more things stay the same. And the common denominator for the Vikings - as usual - is winning.

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Nine Western Washington University athletes and head coach John Fuchs were honored following the Vikings' fourth straight women's division title at the Northwest College Rowing Conference Championships on Saturday at Vancouver Lake near Vancouver, Wash.

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Battling frigid and windy conditions, the Western Washington University women's rowing team won six of nine races, two of the victories coming in the featured varsity eight and varsity four events, as it claimed a fourth straight title at the eighth annual Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference Championships held Saturday on Vancouver Lake.

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - The nationally No.1-ranked Western Washington University women's rowing team is looking for a fourth straight title Saturday at the eighth annual Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference Championships being held on Vancouver Lake near Vancouver, Wash.

Western is ranked No.1 nationally in the USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association NCAA Division II Poll, receiving all six first-place votes.

For the first time in over four years, Western Washington University's varsity eight is not ranked No.1 in the USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/NCAA Division II Poll released this week.

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Living up to its No.1 national rating, Western Washington University dominated the women's division Saturday at the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference Invitational Regatta on Vancouver Lake.

The Vikings, who have won the last three NCAA Division II national titles, are ranked atop the latest USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches of America NCAA II Poll, receiving all six first-place votes.

The Western Washington University women's rowing team qualified all five of its entries for grand finals with heat-winning efforts on a rainy Saturday at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship Regatta being held on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif.

The Vikings will compete in grand finals Sunday, May 3, in the varsity eight, varsity four, novice eight, novice four and lightweight four.

Joining a gym isn't the only option of exercise in town - especially during the summer months.

Local fitness trainer Jesse Johns wants people to think outside of the gym, so he created Fitness Fanatics, a free fitness club that meets outdoors four days a week from May to mid-September.
Johns was a local athlete at Nooksack Valley High School and also participated with the men's crew team at Western Washington University.

Two members of the Western Washington University women's rowing team, Audrey Coon and Kristy Theodorson, have been named to the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/NCAA Division II Pocock All-America team.

Coon is the No. 7 seat and Theodorson the coxswain of the Vikings' varsity eight, which ranks No. 2 nationally in the USRowing/CRCA/NCAA II Coaches Poll and will compete at the national championships this weekend at Cherry Hill, N.J.

Highlights of Western Washington University's fifth consecutive NCAA Division II national championship in women's rowing can be seen Saturday, July 4, at 11 a.m. on KIRO TV (Ch. 7) as CBS presents the 2009 NCAA Championships Spring Highlight Show

Winthrop’s Madeleine Eckmann and Wenatchee’s Alix Crilly had little rowing experience. That didn’t stop them from making Western Washington’s national title crew team.

The national champion Western Washington University Women's Rowing team will be at Safeco Field Thursday afternoon for a special tribute prior to the Seattle Mariners' baseball game with San Diego, including the ceremonial first pitch by team captain Audrey Coon.