Skip to main content
Cal Sports Report

Cal Varsity Eight Men Finish Second in Rowing Nationals

Bears again are runnersup to No. 1-ranked Washington in IRA National Championships in New Jersey
Jake Curtis|
Cal Varsity Eight Men Finish Second in Rowing Nationals
Cal Varsity Eight Men Finish Second in Rowing Nationals

Cal could not defeat season-long nemesis Washington in the 2021 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship, but the Bears did reduce the deficit while finishing second on Saturday.

Washington’s No. 1-ranked Varsity Eight had defeated No. 2 Cal by more than four seconds at both the Windermere Cup dual match on May 1 and the Pac-12 championships on May 16.

Cal finished second best both times.

The steadily improving Cal crew seemed to have a shot at knocking off the favored Huskies in the IRA national championship on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J., after the Bears had the best time in Friday’s semifinals.

But in the Varsity Eight finals (known as the Varsity Challenge Cup) on Saturday morning, Washington won in a time of 5 minutes, 59.707 seconds. Cal was second in 6:02.953, a margin of less than 3.3 seconds this time.

The Bears’ boat was the only one that gave the Huskies a challenge as Cal finished with a nearly eight-second advantage over third-place Dartmouth. Syracuse was fourth and Stanford fifth.

Final times from the Varsity Challenge Cup:

1. Washington 5:59.707

2. Cal 6:02.953

3. Dartmouth 6:07.607

4. Syracuse 6:10.882

5. Stanford 6:12.859

6. Northeastern 6:16.684

Cal also finished second to Washington in the Varsity Four final, with the Bears finishing more than six seconds behind the Huskies and just two-tenths of a second ahead of Boston University.

Final times from the V4 Grand Final:

1. Washington 6:59.449

2. Cal 7:06.229

3. Boston U 7:06.429

4. Dartmouth 7:08.489

5. Penn 7:17.864

6. Oklahoma City 7:18.772

7. Syracuse 7:27.452

Click here for results of all events

.

Cover photo by Catharyn Hayne, KLC Hayne

.

Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by searching: @si.calsportsreport or going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

Home/Other Sports