No. 2 Cal Loses to No. 1 Washington Again at MPSF Rowing Championships

Cal's varsity eight men will have one more shot at the Huskies in the IRA national championship at the same venue

Cal varsity eight | Photo by Zach Franzen, Cal Athletics

Washington's No. 1-ranked varsity eight defeated Cal's No. 2-ranked boat for the second time this season, this time finishing about two seconds ahead of the Bears on Sunday morning in the men's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rowing championships on Lake Natoma, located just outside Sacramento.

Cal will have one more shot at the Huskies in two weeks at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association national championships May 29-31. That event will be held at the same Lake Natoma site, so Sunday's race was a good indication of how the national championship might go.

What is somewhat discouraging for Cal is that Washington won by a slightly wider margin than it did when the two crews faced off at Redwood Shores on April 25. The Huskies won last month's varsity eight race by 1.4 seconds,

Sunday's grand final was nip and tuck until the final 500 meters of the 2,000-meter race. Cal led Washington by two-tenths of a second after 500 meters. The Huskies forged ahead slightly to lead by eight-tenths of a second after 1,000 meters, but Cal gained some ground and trailed by only six-tenths of second heading into the final 500.

However, Washington took command in the final stages of the race, winning by just under two seconds. Washington's winning time was five minutes and 40.476 seconds, while Cal crossed the finish line in 5:42.463 -- a margin of 1.987 seconds.

The Bears finished five seconds ahead of third-place Stanford while British Columbia, UC San Diego and Oregon State finished well behind in the six-boat grand final.

Cal and Washington have dominated men's rowing in recent years, with one or the other winning the national championship each of the past five years. Washington won it in 2021, 2024 and 2025, while Cal captured the varsity eight national title in 2022 and 2023. Cal hopes to end the Huskies' run of two straight national titles when they meet again at the same venue.

For the first time since 2019, the national championships will be held on the West Coast. All the IRA nationals since then have been competed in New Jersey.

Cal defeated the Huskies in several of the earlier races.

The Bears finished first, ahead of Washington by more than five seconds, in the freshman eight grand final. Cal also finished first in the varsity four grand final, by nearly three seconds

The Bears' third varsity eight held off Washington to win that grand final by less than half a second. but Washington finished a little more than two seconds ahead of second-place Cal in the second varsity eight grand final.

However, it is the top varsity eight race that determines the team winner. Rankings are based on results of varsity eight races, and the national champion will be the winner of the varsity eight grand final at the IRA national championship. This is different from the women's NCAA national championship, which is determined by compiling the points achieved in all races.