Bears Capture Sixth At NCAA Championships

SARASOTA, Fla. – At the conclusion of a fast day of racing, the Cal women's rowing team finished in sixth place with 101 points. The Bears were led by their varsity eight who had a strong showing in the Grand Final; the varsity four captured a win in the Petite Final.

Texas won its second consecutive championship by virtue of a win in the V8+ race where they edged out second-place Stanford. The Longhorns and Cardinal finished with 124 points each. Princeton took third with 118 points, followed by Washington in fourth with 112, and Yale was fifth with 102 points.

"The team was fantastic today," said head coach Al Acosta. "From top to bottom each boat left it all out on the racecourse. You don't always get your best race of the year on the final day of the season, but today we did. I'm so happy for seniors Lucine and Juliane, to finish their time at Cal with their bow ball ahead of the Huskies. The 2V fought all the way down the course and secured critical points for the team. Lastly, our four was incredible and had far and away their best race of this championship. The whole coaching staff is really proud of Cal Crew '22. It has been a wild season, but we only graduate three from this NCAA group, so the future is very bright for this team."

The V8+ Grand Final was a fast race. Cal finished with their second-fastest time of the season and edged the Huskies for the first time this season. National Champion Texas jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, defeating runner-up Stanford with open water separating the two boats. The battle for third place was heated, with Princeton finishing ahead of the Bears by a second. Cal took fourth with a time of 6:18.78, just ahead of fifth-place Washington.

The varsity fours got the day off to a tremendous start in the Petite Final. After a dead even start, Virginia's boat pulled out to the early lead at the 500-meter mark with Yale less than a second behind them in second. Cal sat comfortably in third and stayed there, less than a seat back of Yale for the next 1,000 meters. At the 1,500-meter mark, Cal overtook Yale and closed on Virginia, trailing the Cavaliers by two seconds. Over the final 500 meters, the Bears picked up the pace and caught Virginia in the final 10 strokes to finish first by three-tenths of a second, clocking in at 7:16.23.

In the 2V8+ Petite Final, all six boats started fast and were even through the first 500 meters. Brown and Michigan had the advantage early with Cal just behind them in third, less than a second separating all three. At the 1,000-meter mark, Cal moved into second, but Ohio State was charging hard. In the final 500-meters, Brown held off the Buckeyes with Cal finishing third ahead of SMU and Penn. The Bears finished with a time of 6:35.77.  

With the top-10 finish, Cal has finished in the top-10 for the 23rd consecutive year, dating back to 1999 when the Bears finished sixth.

Sunday's Results
V8+
1. Texas - 6:10.73
2. Stanford - 6:15.43
3. Princeton - 6:17.70
4. California - 6:18.78
5. Washington - 6:19.16
6. Brown - 6:26.59
 
2V8+
1. Brown - 6:29.34
2. Ohio State - 6:30.50
3. California - 6:35.77
4. SMU - 6:35.73
5. Penn - 6:36.74
6. Michigan - 6:42.78
 
V4+
1. California - 7:16.23
2. Virginia - 7:16.52
3. Rutgers - 7:18.70
4. Yale - 7:19.66
5. Michigan - 7:20.52
6. USC - 7:22.25

Sunday's Lineups

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