UW's top men's crew wins second semifinal

GOLD RIVER, Calif. — In an otherwise unblemished regatta, the Washington rowing team reverted to lackluster starting habits.

Nevertheless, the men's varsity eight, the only Huskies boat competing on the second day of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships, rallied in the final 250 meters to win the second semifinal and complete the full five-boat UW complement advancing to today's finals.

Trailing Stanford by three-quarters of a boat length after 750 meters on Lake Natoma, Washington steadily pulled ahead of closest pursuer Brown midway through the 2,000 meters. The two-time defending national team titlist Huskies drew even with Stanford approaching the final 500 meters and then rowed to the victory by 2 ½ seconds in 5 minutes, 53.15 seconds. Stanford was second and Brown earned the third grand-final qualifying spot of the semifinal.

"They got up on us there," said senior Rob Gibson, the fifth seat from Kingston, Ontario. "We have to come back tomorrow and reassess that first 500 [meters] and, you know, keep ourselves in the race."

Improved pacing still may not be enough. For the second straight day, California's varsity eight rowed to the fastest time with a nearly three-second win over Harvard in the first heat in 5:46.40.

The top-seeded Golden Bears' effort was the fastest of the regatta and nearly seven seconds faster than Washington. Boston University overtook defending varsity-eight titlist Wisconsin in the final strokes for third grand-final qualifier.

"We feel fortunate to have won it," said California coach Mike Teti, who was also the 2008 U.S. Olympic coach. "There are so many good crews and so many capable of winning the grand final."

Despite Cal's dominating times, Wisconsin's misfortune provided an ideal example of competition overshadowing finishing times.

Wisconsin's fourth-place time of 5:50.70 was 2 ½ seconds faster than Washington's winning time in the second semifinal. But Wisconsin was relegated to the petite final.

"The factor is this thing blowing in the air," said Washington coach Michael Callahan, pointing toward overcast skies above the lake. "The conditions can change that quickly, but I don't know if that happened or not."

Washington's semifinal victory occurred 15 minutes after California's semifinal win on the second day of unusually cool and breezy conditions at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center.

"Now it's about rowing your own race," said Callahan, whose team trailed Stanford by nearly three seconds after the opening 250 meters. "You have to get on the starting line and you can't expect to get that far down like we did in the semifinal today and expect to win. You've got to be closer and have a much better first 500 [meters] in order to prevail."

The regatta's concluding day will include 19 races, beginning with the men's masters eight at 8 a.m. The men's varsity-eight grand final featuring Harvard, Boston University, Stanford, Brown, California and Washington is scheduled at 12:15 p.m.

Washington and California have competed in head-to-head competition three times this season. The Golden Bears were victorious at the San Diego Crew Classic and at the Pac-10 Championships three weeks ago, also at Lake Natoma. The Huskies defeated California in a dual meet at Washington.

Washington will also have boats in the second varsity eight, freshman eight, varsity four and open four grand finals, putting the Huskies in position to win a third straight team title.

Gonzaga ekes in

Gonzaga finished fifth of five in the freshman-eight repechage (6:15.78), fourth of four in second varsity eight (6:24.25) and third of five and advanced to the third-level final in varsity eight (6:15.71).