The Cal Bears shined in the national spotlight this weekend at the Head of the Charles regatta in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The women took home the prestigious Governor's Cup in the championship eights division.

After a 13 year hiatus and starting last out of the 32 teams, the women made the most of a difficult situation. Having to pass boats and navigate the Charles River from behind, Head Coach Al Acosta was confident in his team, “Only three of the nine had been here before, so it was fun to see how they approached it”.

He added, “To see them approach this almost as novices to try to figure it out, and I'd say they figured it out pretty well.” The Bears made the most of their disadvantage by passing boats early and utilizing the 3 returning members from the second place NCAA Championship boat, senior Kendall Chase, junior Rowan McKeller, and senior Jacinta Edmunds. The Bears rose to the challenge and were victorious to upset the favorites and claim the championship in a time of 15:58, 25 seconds ahead of second-place Brown and third-place Virginia.

The Bears are scheduled to compete October 24 at the Head of the American in Gold River, CA. Followed by a home dual versus Stanford on November 5^th. Follow along for all of the 2015-2016 here at calbears.com along with twitter and facebook.