Cal Wins First Ever MPSF Championship

GOLD RIVER – No. 2 California made history winning the first ever MPSF conference championship at Lake Natoma on Sunday morning. In the conference’s first men’s rowing championship the Golden Bears V8+ defeated the No. 1 Washington Huskies for the conference title. The win marked the Bears’ first conference title since winning the Pac-12 championship in 2023.

“I thought it was really positive weekend for all of our crews and we made a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks,” Cal head coach Scott Frandsen said. “We need to continue that over the next two weeks as we build towards the IRA. We gained a healthy amount of confidence, but we know that the races at the IRA are going to be really close. We’ll take the positives of this weekend and enjoy those but it's back to work tomorrow morning knowing that we need to keep figuring things out and get faster as we figure out who will be in the third and those lower boats.”

In the freshmen 8+ grand final, Cal got off to a quick start and took a three-seat lead over Washington after the first 15 strokes. The Bears had a boat length lead after the halfway mark and extended its lead to open water over the second half of the race to win in a time of 5:47.302.

In the V4+ grand final, Cal fell behind Washington in second position but held a solid lead ahead of the rest of the pack over the first 500 meters. The Bears maintained contact with the Huskies over the second half of the race, but were unable to cut into the deficit and finished in second place in a time of 6:32.688.

In the 3V8+ grand final, Cal jumped out with Washington to form the lead pack after the first 250 meters, but the Huskies held a four-seat lead. The Bears remained within four seats of the Huskies after the halfway mark, but were unable to complete the comeback and finished just three seconds behind in a time of 5:50.202.

In the 2V8+ grand final, Cal and Stanford were even after 250 meters and three seats behind Washington. The Bears broke away from the Cardinal by four seats by the 500-meter mark. Cal remained within three seats of Washington by the halfway mark and made a move over the second half of the race but came up just short, finishing less than a second behind the Huskies in a time of 5:41.697.

In the V8+ grand final, Washington took a two-seat lead over Cal after the first 15 strokes, but the Bears fought back and took a three-seat lead at the 500-meter mark. Cal continued to press and took a five-seat lead at the halfway mark. The Bears maintained their advantage over the second half of the race and didn’t allow the Huskies to cut into the deficit and won in a time of 5:37.977.

NEXT UP

Cal will have a week off as it prepares for the IRA National Championships which take place at the Cooper River in Camden, New Jersey May 30 – June 1.

Sunday Results

V8+

1. Cal – 5:37.977

2. Washington – 5:39.219

3. Stanford – 5:44.697

4. Oregon State – 6:02.903

2V8+

1. Washington – 5:40.966

2. Cal – 5:41.697

3. Stanford – 5:49.985

4. Oregon State – 6:11.395

3V8+

1. Washington – 5:47.711

2. Cal – 5:50.202

3. Oregon State – 6:15.603

4. Gonzaga – 6:20.321

5. Santa Clara – 6:22.244

6. UC San Diego – 6:35.902

V4+

1. Washington – 6:27.807

2. Cal – 6:32.688

3. Stanford – 6:46.924

4. Oregon State – 6:51.447

Freshmen 8+

1. Cal – 5:47.302

2. Washington – 5:55.294

Saturday Results

V8+ heat 2

1. Cal - 5:53.132

2. Stanford – 5:57.695

3. UC San Diego – 6:14.081

4. Santa Clara – 6:22.980

2V8+ heat 2

1. Cal – 6:03.002

2. Stanford – 6:08.528

3. Santa Clara – 6:28.347

4. Gonzaga – 6:32.086

Lineups

V8+

Coxswain: Iliad Izadi

8. Frederik Breuer

7. Angus Dawson

6. Tobias Kristensen

5. Tim Roth

4. Gennaro di Mauro

3. Harry Manton

2. Noah Anger

1. Pablo Moreno

2V8+

Coxswain: Ethan Nghiem

8. Louis Nares

7. Robbie Prosser

6. Alexander Baroni

5. Leonard Brahms

4. Rory Menzies

3. Jeremy Beale

2. Thomas Heerding

1. Wilson Morton

3V8+

Coxswain: Anna O’Reilly

8. Travis Jorgensen

7. Antonio Distefano

6. Nemanja Luledzija

5. Evan Gold

4. Matthew Waddell

3. Dan Bradbery

2. Maximilian Pfautsch

1. Henry Furrer

V4+

Coxswain: Austin Chen

4. Marcus Cameron

3. Thomas Barbey

2. Peter Spira

1. Farley Dimond-Brown

Freshmen 8+

Coxswain: Jake Bazulto

8. Osian James

7. Nat Gauden

6. Xavier Gagnon

5. James O’Meara

4. Andreas Simoni

3. Johannes Benien

2. Alec Wild

1. Leo Shetler