GOLD RIVER, Calif. – For the third year in a row, the Washington men's and women's rowing teams have each won the Pac-12 Championship as the Huskies won nine out of 10 races Sunday on Lake Natoma.
 
Due to forecasts for thunderstorms later in the day, the schedule for the entire regatta was moved up an hour and the order of races was flopped. Thanks to that schedule, the varsity eight races were the first two events that counted towards the team title, rather than the last two.
 
The UW women finished third a tightly contest varsity eight race, with Cal and Stanford both edging the Husky boat. That meant that the UW not only likely needed to win the remaining three scored races (the 2V8+, the V4+ and the 3V8+), but that Cal had to finish outside of second place in at least two of them.
 
With three of four scored races completed, the women went into the 3V8+ raced tied on total points with both the Cardinal and the Golden Bears, meaning whichever of those three teams won that race would be the Pac-12 champ. The UW 3V8+, unaware of the scoring situation, won the race handily, beating second-place Stanford by nearly 11 seconds.
 
"The varsity race was just crazy," women's head coach Yasmin Farooq said. "The announcer kept calling Stanford and Cal, so I really didn't know where we were. I knew at one point we were down four or five seats in the third 500. When I saw them come into view in the sprint, charging like they were, and for that race to come down to a second, it was great. Here are the top-three teams in the country, at the Pac-12s, inside a second of each other.
 
"The hardest thing about that was that it was a great race, but third place gets you a lot fewer points," Farooq continued. "So to have the 2V and the four then deliver such strong performances, all I kept thinking was 'the strength of the pack is the dog and the strength of the dog is the pack' over and over.
 
"When it came down to the 3V, I was just excited," she concluded. "I felt so great about what I knew they could do. They just crushed it. I'm so proud of the team, top to bottom, for every performance. Every performance took guts and heart, and it was out there. The depth of this team is its strength and that's what we saw today.
 
Washington won the team title with 39.5 points, while Stanford and 39 and California finished with 38.5. The UW women have spent most of the season ranked No. 1 in the nation, while Cal and Stanford came into the championships ranked second and third in the country. They'll all see each other in two weeks at the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis.


 
Washington's men, ranked No. 2 in the nation going into the championship, swept all five races. After a win in the varsity four in the first race of the morning, the Huskies' varsity eight set the tone with a close victory over California, beating the Bears by just over one second. The UW men went on to sweep all five races for the first time since 2015, finishing with 72 points (the maximum in the men's scoring). Cal finished second with 63 points.
 
"I can't wait to get back to better weather in Seattle!," UW men's coach Michael Callahan said afterwards. "The varsity eight was a good race. California controlled things back in Seattle at the start, so we worked on that. We were able to control the race at the beginning today. Cal had a very strong second 1,000 and I thought our guys handled it really well.
 
"From top to bottom, the team performed really well," Callahan continued. "It was very businesslike. Our focus is on the end of the season, but we came down here and everyone was very regimented.
 
"We've been using the whole year to progress," said Callahan, who will bring his team back to Lake Natoma in two weeks for the national championships. "The last couple of years, we were faster earlier on in the season and we want to peak right at the end. We wanted to be one step better than we were at Windermere Cup today, and we did that."
 
It was the 39th conference title in the history of the UW men's program (the first conference championship was awarded in 1960) and the 17th for the women (first awarded in 1988).
 
Here are recaps of the day's 10 races:
 
WOMEN'S VARSITY EIGHT
As expected, Cal, UW and Stanford (lanes 1-3) came out quickly and moved ahead of the other four boats. The Huskies and Bears traded the lead through the first 500 meters. Cal crossed the 500-meter mark with a slight lead. Over the second 500, the Bears increased their lead, but the Huskies (coxed by senior Marley Avritt and stroked by Tabea Schendekehl) remained close behind. At 1,250, Stanford made a move to row past the Huskies into second place, though the top three were still tightly packed. As the top three boats came to the finish line, Cal in lane one moved into the lead, barely ahead of the Cardinal in lane three. As they crossed the line, Cal won with a time of 6:11.901. Stanford was second in 6:12.824 and Washington was just another four-tenths of a second back in 6:13.214.
 
MEN'S VARSITY EIGHT
Washington rowed aggressively off of the start, taking a clear lead over Cal and the rest of the field right out of the starting dock. Coxed by Seattle's Adam Gold and stroked by senior Andrew Gaard, the UW crew continued its strong start as Washington had an open-water lead early in the third 500. But the Bears put on a move and made a bid to draw even near the midway point. Cal cut into the Husky lead, but the UW was able to hold off the challenge and cross the finish line about three seats in front of the Bears. Washington's winning time was 5:34.950 while Cal finished in 5:36.217.
 
WOMEN'S SECOND VARSITY EIGHT
After decent conditions up to that point, the weather took a turn for the worse quickly, just prior to the start of the women's second varsity eight, but the Huskies handled the whitecaps and wind well. With senior coxswain Amanda Durkin and stroke rower Klara Grube leading the way, Washington earned a comfortable victory. The Huskies led after 500 meters, but were caught by Stanford at 1,000. In the third 500, the Huskies took back over, establishing an open-water lead over the others by 1,500 meters. The Huskies won the race in 7:10.967, more than seven seconds ahead of second-place Stanford. However, the fact that the Cardinal were able to hold off California, which finished just a half-second behind in third, helped open the door to Washington being able to win the overall conference title.
 
MEN'S SECOND VARSITY EIGHT
Despite not much time having passed since the finish of the women's 2V8+ race, the weather had eased up before the men's 2V8s started their final. Immediately it was clearly a race between the UW and Cal, with those two out in front from the start. UW led the entire 2,000 meters, though the Bears did take back several seats in the final portion of the race. At the finish, the UW eight coxed by Kimmons Wilson and stroked by Michiel Mantel won by a sliver of open water, in a time of 6:05.059, about three-and-a-half seconds ahead of the Bears.
 
WOMEN'S VARSITY FOUR
Needing a win in the varsity four race (and also hopeful for a third-place finish for Cal), the Huskies took over the race from the start. Tight off of the starting dock, the UW and Stanford fours quickly moved well ahead of all the others, with Washington in front throughout. Greek stroke rower Dimitra Tsamopoulou and coxswain Dana Brooks guided the UW four to a comfortable win, better than eight seconds ahead of second-place Stanford, while Cal finished another 14-plus seconds back in third, moving the three contending teams into a tie for first place in the overall team standings, with 36 points each.
 
MEN'S THIRD VARSITY EIGHT
Having already won the first and second varsity eights, the Huskies entered the 3V8+ race needing only to finish within three spots of Cal to wrap up the team championship, and in a five-boat race, that scenario was unlikely, barring some sort of major mishap. Instead, the UW 3V8+, coxed by Bellevue's Kira Lewis and stroked by Aussie Max Rennie, led from wire to wire, taking an open-water lead over the Bears by the halfway mark. Washington wrapped up the team title with an open-water victory. The UW time of 5:55.887 was more than seven seconds ahead of Cal.
 
WOMEN'S THIRD VARSITY EIGHT
With UW, Cal and Stanford all tied for first in the team totals with 36 points each, the winner of the women's third varsity eight race would determine the overall champion, based on those three teams' finish. However, having been on the water warming up while the other races were going on, and having had their start time moved up nearly 15 minutes due to a weather-related tightening of the schedule, the UW women in the 3V boat were unaware of the stakes. Senior coxswain Isabella Corriere and freshman stroke McKenna Bryant (a Kennedy Catholic grad) guided the UW women to their most comfortable race of the day up that point. By the 500-meter mark, the Huskies led by open water, with Stanford in a clear second position ahead of Cal. Washington won in a time of 6:39.054, nearly 11 seconds in front of the Cardinal and 16 ahead of Cal.
 
MEN'S FRESHMAN EIGHT
The title having already been secured, the UW freshmen eight rowed for an individual boat championship and made quick work of it. With California having scratched from the race prior to the start of the regatta, only two other teams took on the Husky freshmen. By the 500-meter buoy, the Huskies already had an open-water edge over WSU and UCLA and the Huskies, coxed by Thomas Wenk and stroked by Austrian Mattijs Holler, won by a large margin. The UW time was 5:50.809, 32 seconds ahead of WSU, which just edged out the Bruins for second place.
 
WOMEN'S NOVICE EIGHT
Washington closed the regatta with its ninth win of the morning as the freshmen took home another victory. Coxed by Nina Castagna and stroked by Seattleite Carmen McNamara-Smith, the UW novice crew beat California by more than 11 seconds in its final race of the season (novice crews don't compete at NCAAs). The Huskies won in 6:28.972 with Cal second in 6:40.416.
 
MEN'S VARSITY FOUR
The regatta got underway with the men's varsity four, a race with four entries. The Huskies, stroked by Cole Zwiersynski and coxed by Seattleite Isabel Klein, jumped out to an early lead, gaining nearly a full length on the field well before the 500-meter buoy. Into the second 500, UW and Cal were well ahead of the third and fourth-place boats, with the Huskies leading by open water over the Golden Bears. By 1,000 meters, UW's lead over Cal was a full length open water. The Huskies rowed to the win with a time of 6:18.298, four-and-a-half seconds ahead of the Bears (6:22.801).
 
UP NEXT
The fields for both the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (men) and NCAA (women) national championship regattas will both be announced on Tuesday. The women will compete at NCAAs in Indianapolis May 31-June 2, while the men will return to Lake Natoma for the IRAs that same weekend.
 
WASHINGTON WOMEN'S PAC-12 LINEUPS
 
Varsity Eight
Shell: Title IX Tenacity
Cox: Marley Avritt (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor)
Stroke: Tabea Schendekehl (Dortmund, Germany)
7: Calina Schanze (Behlendorf, Germany)
6: Sofia Asoumanaki (Athens, Greece)
5: Marlee Blue (Seattle, Wash./Holy Names Academy)
4: Teal Cohen (Dallas, Texas/The Hockaday School)
3: Valentina Iseppi (Gardone Riviera, Italy)
2: Jennifer Wren (Seattle Wash./Bishop Blanchet)
Bow: Carmela Pappalardo (Salerno, Italy)
 
Second Varsity Eight
Shell: Title IX Sisterhood
Cox: Amanda Durkin (Hingham, Mass./Hingham)
Stroke: Klara Grube (Lübeck, Germany)
7: Lark Skov (Steamboat Springs, Colo./Steamboat Springs)
6: Elise Beuke (Sequim, Wash./Sequim)
5: Holly Dunford (Tadworth, U.K.)
4: Molly Gallaher (Snoqualmie, Wash./Skyline)
3: Mackenna Cameron (Seattle, Wash./Chief Sealth Int'l.)
2: Skylar Jacobson (Lakewood, Wash./Steilacoom)
Bow: Adele Likin (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt)
 
Varsity Four
Shell: EOC '96
Stroke: Dimitra Tsamopoulou (Athens, Greece)
3: Kieanna Stephens (Vancouver, B.C., Canada)
2: Holly Drapp (Tampa, Fla./Strawberry Crest)
Bow: Emma Vagen (Kent, Wash./Kentwood)
Cox: Dana Brooks (Tiburon, Calif./Redwood)
 
Third Varsity Eight
Shell: Jean LaFromboise
Cox: Isabella Corriere (Montclair, N.J./Montclair)
Stroke: McKenna Bryant (Kent, Wash./Kennedy Catholic)
7: Ella Cossill (Gold Coast, Australia)
6: Ellie Bruce (Snoqualmie, Wash./Mount Si)
5: Taylor Buell (Olympia, Wash./Capital)
4: Rachel McGlothlen (Spokane, Wash./West Valley)
3: Jenna Phillips (Dayton, Wash./Dayton)
2: Denise Devlyn (Austin, Texas/St. Stephen's Episcopal)
Bow: Marguerite Trost (Nashville, Tenn./Harpeth Hall School)
 
Novice Eight
Shell: Erickson Family
Cox: Nina Castagna (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills)
Stroke: Carmen McNamara-Smith (Seattle, Wash./Center School)
7: Hallie Jensen (Spokane, Wash./Lakeside)
6: Sierra Williams (Seattle, Wash./Cleveland STEM)
5: Sophia Chaffey (Redmond, Wash./Bellevue Christian)
4: Claire Marion (San Marcos, Calif./San Marcos)
3: Joïe Zier (Orcas Island, Wash./Orcas Island)
2: Brittani Shappell (Bellingham, Wash./Walworth Barbour)
Bow: Madi Frampton (Tumwater, Wash./Black Hills)