Huskies win varsity eight, team IRA titles

GOLD RIVER, Calif. -- Eight rowers, eight oars and an experienced coxswain can do a lot in the final 100 meters of a race.

For the second straight day, the combination worked perfectly Saturday for Washington. Its men's varsity eight rallied to another win -- this time in the grand final of the 107th Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships.

Taking the lead over favored California with about 100 meters left, Washington claimed the finale to the three-day regatta at Lake Natoma in 5 minutes, 50.90 seconds. The Golden Bears were second (5:51.80) and Stanford was third (5:56.44).

Defending titlist Wisconsin didn't advance to the grand final.

"Again, we didn't want to give up as much as we did [at the start]," Washington coach Michael Callahan said. "It makes a coach a little nervous on the beach. At one point, I heard the announcer say we were down by nine seats. That's really hard to recover in a race that's on this pace."

But just as the Huskies did in the semifinals, when they recovered from an early three-second deficit, Washington prevailed with a late-race surge on an 80-degree afternoon at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center.

Under a new team point system this year, Washington swept the varsity, second varsity and freshman eight grand finals -- the events counting toward team totals -- to claim its third straight team title and sixth since it was first awarded in 1952.

Washington tallied 198 points, followed by California (178) and Brown (174).

Like in its earlier races, California took a quick early lead in the varsity eight final. The Golden Bears' semifinal time was the fastest of the regatta and seven seconds faster than the Huskies' semifinal time.

Washington, meanwhile, also mirrored its performances in Thursday's qualifier and Friday's semifinals, trailing after a subpar start. But the Huskies didn't allow California to get an open-water advantage in the grand final. And like in its earlier races, Washington's second-half performance outclassed the field. The Huskies' final 500-meter split was 1:22:92, nearly two seconds faster than California. Washington also had the field's best time in the third 500-meter split.

"We knew we just had to keep our heads in our own boat," said senior four-seat Bart-Jan Caron, the lone Washington rower to win his fourth national title. "We knew that Cal had awesome races in the Pac-10s and in the heats here and everywhere else.

"But we just had to focus on the internal focus in our boat and go for it. It was trusting all eight of us in the boat and not worrying about the other boat. We have a coxswain who can worry about that."

Earlier Saturday, Washington won grand finals in the second varsity eights (5:51.46), freshman eights (5:50.68) and men's open fours (6:35.48). The Huskies finished second to California in varsity fours (6:34.00).

Barring catastrophe, Washington had the team title secured before the varsity eight grand final. But as the most coveted and final event of the championship, there was still plenty of anticipation in the crowd that event officials estimated at 5,000.

"The race was similar to the semis, but it was just amped up a notch," senior coxswain Katelin Snyder, who earned her third national title. "The level that we had to bring was more. But we still rowed our race the same way as the other races."

California, whose lone team title was in 2006, was never seriously challenged in its first two races. But with the loss to Washington in the varsity eight grand final, the two teams ended the season splitting four head-to-head competitions.

"The four races have all been within a second," said Mike Teti, the Cal coach and 2008 U.S. Olympic coach. "They are good athletes and they're not going to go away. And it was the same thing with Stanford. I expected one of these three crews was going to win, barring any sort of religious experience from one of the other crews."

Note

• In the final-only masters eights, Gonzaga finished fourth (7:14.82). The Bulldogs also finished second in the varsity third final (6:17.12, 13th overall), fifth in the third varsity eight final (6:15.72, 17th) and third in the freshman eight (6:11.18, 15th). Gonzaga finished 16th among 22 teams with 43 points.