The Washington men’s rowing team won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) championship on May 17, taking first place in a close varsity eight final at Lake Natoma.
The win marks Washington’s first MPSF title since joining the conference two years ago. The Huskies also secured victories in the second varsity eight race and placed second in the third varsity eight, varsity four, and freshman eight finals. The MPSF championship is awarded to the winner of the varsity eight race.
In Sunday’s main event, Washington competed against longtime rival California and Stanford. After trailing by a small margin early on, Washington moved into the lead by halfway and maintained its advantage to finish with a time of 5:40.476—just under two seconds ahead of California. Stanford finished third.
Head coach Michael Callahan said, “We overcame a slow start both on the day and in the varsity eight, but in the end, we relied on our seniors to pull us out in the top two eights and for the team point trophy. The whole team from top to bottom saw a lot of improvement – from the freshman and gutsy races from the four in the 3V, which each went down to the wire.” Callahan earned his thirteenth conference title as head coach with this victory.
Other races during Sunday’s regatta included another close contest between Washington and California in both second varsity eight and third varsity eight events. In each case, teams traded leads before finishing within seconds of each other. California claimed wins over Washington in both freshman eights (6:05.482 vs 6:10.923) and varsity four (6:37.807 vs 6:39.121), while Oregon State took third place in those events.
Callahan said about looking ahead to nationals: “This was a prelude for the IRAs that are coming in less than two weeks’ time,” adding that although it wasn’t their best day overall, it was enough for them to secure their championship goal.
Washington will return to Lake Natoma from May 29-31 for an attempt at defending its Intercollegiate Rowing Association national championship title.
