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May 25, 2012

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - A different spin on sports by The Seattle Times staff and readers.

Posted by Don Shelton

Crew is a little different. Here's a story that proves it.

The tale involves crews from Washington, Washington State and Western Washington working together to get their shells to New Jersey this week for the NCAA rowing championships.

I'm pretty sure this level of cooperation would never happen in, say, football.

The story came Friday via an email from Western Washington sports information. Both the NCAA Division I and II championships are in New Jersey, so UW women's crew coach Bob Ernst planned to drive Western coach John Fuchs' truck and trailer last week, hauling the shells for both schools to the East Coast. Fuchs would drive them home.

But the plan went awry in Montana. Fuchs' truck broke down, and the dealer could not make the repairs soon enough. What to do?

Ernst called Washington State's crew coach, whose team did not qualify for nationals. The WSU coach drove the Cougars' truck to Montana and handed the keys to Ernst, who continued the final leg of the trip to New Jersey.

"So we had the UW coach driving a WSU truck hauling a WWU trailer," said Western Washington athletic director Lynda Goodrich in the email. "That's what I call teamwork and a good example of the state's universities working together."

Western and UW women's crews rowed this morning. All three of the Huskies' boats advanced to Saturday's semifinals of the NCAA Division I championships on Lake Mercer. Both the Vikings fours and eights lost opening heats of the nearby NCAA II championships, and row in Saturday's repechage heats.

No matter, everyone came out a winner just getting to New Jersey.

Maybe this feel-good story of UW, WSU and Western helping each other for the greater good can be reprinted next fall during Apple Cup week.