
The 1980 Lightweight 8 on their way to the Pac-10 Championship at Redwood Shores. Thank you Cindy Spranger McCormick

1980 Pac-10 Lightweight 8 Champions. Photo thank you Cindy Spranger McCormick
The 1980 Women’s Lightweight team continued the strong tradition, dating back to 1970, of the UW fielding championship level Lightweight squads. Cindy (Spranger) McCormick (4-seat in the 1980 Lightweight 8) recently remembered that year: “That year we were undefeated, I believe, and our boat was always so strong no matter who was in it. The roster changed a bit because a couple of the rowers were in the Varsity 8 for most of the regular season and then moved into the Lightweight boat for Nationals. Those that joined the boat later just fit right in and the boat didn’t lose a beat. This boat had the best swing! You felt a little like you were just skimming on top of the water. We believed in ourselves and supported each other…we all wanted to win but knew we could only do it together. Now every spring there are days that I walk out of my house and the air just smells like rowing. I close my eyes and can feel myself back in a boat…”
Photos: Thank you Cindy Spranger McCormick.

In the summer of 1980, Dick Erickson announced that men’s freshmen coach Bob Ernst – whose frosh teams went undefeated four of the six years he coached and won six straight Conference Championships – would take over as head women’s coach at Washington. Ernst quickly hired Jan Harville, UW alum and two-time Olympian, as his Novice women’s coach. “With Bob Ernst now coaching the women’s varsity, and with Jan Harville and Gil Gamble coaching our first-year athletes, we have the most experienced and complementing coaching team in the business,” said Erickson. “Washington will now achieve its goal of one rowing program for both men and women.” HRF photo