The team was founded in 1964 as a joint program with University of Puget Sound. Following the demise of the PLU-UPS rowing club, Pacific Lutheran rowers formed the Lute Varsity Rowing Club in 1965.
PLU Crew first received national notoriety in 1967, when University of Washington requested the return of their old shell the "Husky Clipper," which the Huskies had used to win at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In exchange, UW arranged for Green Lake Crew to donate a shell, the "Loyal Shoudy" to the PLU team. Faced with no means of transporting the boat from north Seattle to PLU's home course in south Tacoma, team Commodore/Captain Jim Ojala devised a plan for the team to row the shell from Lake Union, through the Ballard Locks and down Puget Sound to the Tacoma Narrows. After several months of endurance training, contacting the Navy and Coast Guard, and obtaining a parade permit to walk the shell through North Seattle from Green Lake to Lake Union, the ten team members prepared to embark on their journey. The stunt resulted in the team receiving coverage of the event from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper, as well as national rowing magazine Rowing News.[2][3]
The team received a major setback after its boathouse burnt to the ground in Spring 1975.[4] However, in 1998 the team moved up the lake to its new boathouse, located on American Lake at Harry Todd Park in Tillicum.
In 2002, the women's team earned their first ever selection to the NCAA Division III rowing championship.They have competed a total of eight times (2002, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2025), with a highest finish of 4th in 2016.
PLU's lightweight rowing program achieved some successes. In 2002, the Men's Lwt 4+ won the Dad Vails Regatta in Philadelphia[5] The Men's team has not returned to Dad Vails since 2002, they have since won the NCRC title in 2005[6] and 2007.[7]
Not to be outdone, the Women's Lwt 4+ won the 2004 WIRA Championships at Lake Natoma, California. They followed up their win with second-place finishes in the event in 2005 and 2006.
The team's last red cedar shell, the Marjory Anderson, was refurbished in 2004, and was located for display in the new college bookstore beginning in July 2007.
They formerly competed as a member of the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference (NCRC) until 2015, when the Northwest Conference began sponsoring the women's rowing championship. The team went on to win every conference championship from 2016 until 2022.
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