Washington crews take top honors at San Diego regatta

SAN DIEGO — Washington celebrated its return Sunday to the San Diego Crew Classic after a three-year absence by winning the feature races for both the men's and women's collegiate rowers.

Overall, four of the Huskies' six entries were victorious. The Huskies men won the Copley Cup for the 14th time (first time since 1998) by nearly two seconds. The women rebounded from an off showing in qualifying to take the Jessop-Whittier Cup for the 17th time — the first time since 2002.

More than 3,400 rowers from 100 colleges and clubs competed over a 2,000-meter course on Mission Bay in the 35th annual event regarded as the first major regatta of the year.

UW claimed trophies in the top two races at San Diego for the ninth time, the first since 1998.

Washington's men pulled ahead at the midpoint and finished in 5 minutes, 39.9 seconds, ahead of Princeton (5:41.8) and Harvard (5:43.89). Two-time defending champion Stanford (5:44.38) placed sixth in the seven-boat field.

Washington's women (6:22.9) surged toward the end in the sixth lane to edge defending champion USC (6:23.8) in the second lane. Washington State (6:26.1) placed third.

"They rowed better than they did yesterday, and that's what they needed to do," women's coach Bob Ernst said, referring to the varsity crew's third-place finish in its heat Saturday, behind USC and WSU. "It's fun for them, and refreshing for them to know that they can compete."

Washington crews also won the men's freshman eight and women's junior varsity eight. The Huskies men earned the silver medal in the junior varsity, and the women finished third in the novice eight.

"This was great to row well here early in the season," Ernst said. "It was a good day overall with the guys varsity and freshmen winning and our women's JVs rowing well, too."

Sports information departments contributed to this report.

San Diego Crew Classic

At Mission Bay, San Diego

(all races 2,000 meters)

GRAND FINAL

Copley Cup (Men's varsity eight) -- 1, Washington, 5:39.90; 2, Princeton, 5:41.80; 3, Harvard, 5:43.89; 4, California, 5:44.15; 5, Northeastern, 5:44.18; 6, Stanford, 5:44.38; 7, Yale, 5:47.37.

Jessop-Whittier Cup (Women's varsity eight) -- 1, Washington, 6:22.90; 2, USC, 6:23.80; 3, Washington State, 6:26.10; 4, Stanford, 6:29.27; 5, UCLA, 6:29.38; 6, Wisconsin, 6:32.24.

Men's junior varsity eight -- 1, Harvard, 5:52.31; 2, Washington, 5:54.22; 3, California, 5:56.68; 4, Oregon State, 6:00.78; 5, Stanford, 6:04.40; 6, UC Davis, 6:14.30.

Women's junior varsity eight -- 1, Washington, 6:36.50; 2, USC, 6:41.78; 3, Washington State, 6:41.97; 4, Clemson, 6:42.75; 5, Stanford, 6:45.22; 6, UCLA, 6:47.78.

Men's freshman eight -- 1, Washington, 6:01.8; 2, California, 6:05.33; 3, Stanford, 6:12.46; 4, Oregon State, 6:16.67; 5, Pennsylvania, 6:30.07; 6, San Diego, 6:34.65.

Women's novice eight -- 1, Washington State, 7:03.90; 2, San Diego State, 7:05.68; 3, Washington, 7:09.60; 4, UC Davis, 7:18.72; 5, USC, 7:26.06;6, Orange Coast College, 7:31.05.