Cal Men Fall Short in Bid for Third Straight National Rowing Title

Cal fell short in its bid for a third straight IRA rowing national championship, as the Bears placed third in the varsity eight grand final on Sunday at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, New Jersey.

In men’s rowing the winner of the varsity eight finals is considered the national champion, and the Bears finished third in the last race Sunday morning. Top-ranked Washington won the national championship as expected, winning the varsity eight grand final in a time of 5:27.33. Harvard placed second, nearly two seconds behind the Huskies in a time of 5:28.976, and Cal was third, more than three seconds behind Washington in a time of 5:30.446.

The Golden Bears came into the IRA championships ranked fourth so they finished better than their ranking. Cal finished ahead of fourth-place Princeton, fifth-place Yale and sixth-place Syracuse. Yale’s head coach is Mike Gennaro, who replaced Steve Gladstone in June 2023. Gladstone was Cal’s head rowing coach when the Bears returned to national prominence and was Cal’s athletic director for a period of time.

Cal’s current head coach is Scott Frandsen, who led the Bears to national championships in 2022 and 2023.

Cal also finished third in point standings, behind first-place Washington and second-place Princetown. Cal placed fourth in the second varsity eight finals and third in the third varsity eight.

The women’s NCAA rowing champion is based on total team points. Sixth-ranked Cal failed to reach the six-boat grand final in the varsity eight, the second varsity eight or the third varsity eight in Bethel, Ohio.

Texas won the varsity eight grand final and was the women's national champion. Cal finished in ninth place with 84 points.

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