Cal lost to UW by less than 2 seconds.in the Pac12 Final last Sunday...In the history of NCAA Finals has a Conference 2nd place school made up a deficit of 2 seconds to beat a Conference Champion...?

I can't answer that question on personal knowledge, but I'm virtually certain it's happened, probably a number of times. As you know, UW beat us by over 3.5 seconds in the dual meet 4 weeks ago, and Cal cut that deficit in half at Pac-12s. So it appears we're heading in the right direction, and we definitely have a shot at Washington in two weeks at the IRAs. (Note: men's rowing has held onto the organizational body, the Intercollegiate Rowing Association, that has been in place foreverwhile the women's programs have become part of the NCAA for their championship). The IRAs are at Mercer Lake in New Jersey again this year, and they should be a wide open competition. Brown upset top-ranked Princeton at the Eastern Sprints by less than .1 second yesterday, and along with Yale and Harvard, the four top varsity boats back there were within 1.5 seconds of each other. They, along with Cal and Washington, will decide the varsity heavyweight 8 championship (and pretty much the 2V, 3V, and Varsity 4s as well) in New Jersey. I think Washington will and should be the favorite, but they're not a lock. Fingers crossed here.

Thanks for the detailed response crewbear...