No. 1 Cal Men Fail to Qualify for National Rowing Final

Cal’s No. 1-ranked varsity eight crew suffered a stunning upset loss in the semifinals of the IRA national rowing championships on Saturday and failed to qualify for Sunday’s final.

One report indicated a Cal rower "caught a crab" during its semifinal heat, dooming the Bears to a sixth-place finish in its heat. Apparently a miscue with one oar one stroke in the final 250 meters cost Cal a spot in the final.

Cal was the favorite to win its 20th national championship after defeating No. 2 Washington to win the MPSF conference title two weeks ago. Washington and Dartmouth seemed like the only competition for the Bears, who were expected to ease into Sunday’s Grand Final in Camden, New Jersey.

In the IRA nationals, the winner of the varsity 8+ Grand Final is declared the national champion, and Cal seemed well on its way when it won its first heat on Friday to advance to Saturday’s semifinal.

Cal began its six-boat semifinal heat on Saturday in good position, holding the lead after the first 500 meters and still ahead of the pack after 1,000 meters. The Bears had a half-second lead over Harvard at the halfway point, but the Crimson passed Cal on the third leg and led the Golden Bears by four-tenths of a second heading into the final 500.

Cal figured to be able to make up that deficit on the final leg or at least to finish in the top three to qualify for the final. But the Bears faded badly, timing 1:40.273 over the final 500. It suggests something must have happened to the Cal crew at that stage, because that’s nearly 20 seconds slower than what would be expected from the Bears’ crew. Cal finished last among the six boats, more than 18 seconds behind first-place Harvard.

According to the Cal sports website, Cal was competing for first place with Harvard and was well ahead of the rest of the boats in the final 250 meters when an oar caught a wave in the difficult conditions. It stook the Bears out of the race.

A tweet by Washington, which won the other semifinal heat, indicates Cal caught a crab in its semifinbal.

There seems to be a delay in the Huskies' MV8+ semifinal at IRAs.

In the first semi, there was big news as No. 1 Cal caught a crab and finished 6th. Harvard, Syracuse and Princeton advanced.

⏱️https://t.co/lHXbomnsjB
📺https://t.co/LANqblTYyE #RowingU x #TheBoysInTheBoat
— Washington Rowing (@UW_Rowing) May 31, 2025

"Catching a crab" means a rower messed up a stroke, either failing to get his oar into the water at the start of a stroke or not withdrawing the oar properly at the end of a stroke. It costs the boat a lot of time and almost always dooms the boat to a poor finish.

The results of the race were unofficial for a long time before finally being declared official.

The top three finishers in each of the two semifinal heats advanced to the A final, but Cal finished more than 12 seconds behind third-place Princeton. Cal even finished eight seconds behind fifth-place Stanford.

That relegates Cal to the B final, eliminating the chance for Cal’s third national title in four years.

Cal's varsity 4+ finished third in its grand final, and the Bears' 2V8+ and 3V8+ advanced to Sunday's grand final. But it is is the varsity 8+ final that determines the national champion.

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