WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – After putting itself in a position to come away with a third straight national title, the No. 4 California men's rowing team finished in third place at the IRA National Championships at Mercer Lake Sunday afternoon for its 40th top-three overall finish in program history. Both the V8+ and 3V8+ placed third in their respective grand finals. This marked the 13th and fourth all-time bronze medals for the V8+ and 3V8+ respectively. The Golden Bears totaled 260 points to finish third in the James Ten Eyck Trophy standings after entering the last race of the day in the fourth spot.
 
"These were not the results we were hoping for but I'm really proud of what the team has been able to do over the course of the season and the speed that we were able to show in the lead up to this," Cal head coach Scott Frandsen said. "I'm proud of the effort that the guys put up there today. I thought the 3V raced really well and I think the JV had a better race in them and the varsity was close. Today was a good statement of the competitiveness of men's rowing in that you need to be on your game and have your best race to be able to achieve those goals. Those goals are always consistently very high for our program. That's always the challenge and a challenge we want - to set our sights on winning every year."
 
In Cal's first race of the day for the 3V8+ title, Cal and Washington got out in front of the pack early with the Huskies taking a slight lead after 20 strokes. Through 500 meters, Cal sat in second position even with Princeton and a half boat behind Washington. At the midway point the Bears and Tigers were in a battle for second position and sat a boat-length behind the Huskies. Cal and Princeton both exchanged surges in the last 500 meters with neither being able to take a decisive lead and it was the Tigers who edged out the Bears by less than a tenth of a second in the last few strokes for second place with the Bears coming in third in a time of 5:41.560.
 
In the race for the 2V8+ title, Cal, Harvard and Washington formed the early lead pack. The Bears and Huskies edged out in front of the pack 250 meters in, but Washington continued to push and took a boat-length lead over Cal by the 500-meter mark with Princeton just a few seats behind in third. The Tigers surged and overtook the Bears by a few seats at the midway point. Over the third 500 meters Dartmouth made a move and pulled even with Cal for third position. In the closing 500 meters, Cal was battling with Dartmouth for third place but ultimately the Big Green edged out the Bears for the bronze medal.
 
In the final race of the day for the V8+ title and IRA championship, Cal and Washington got out ahead of the pack early in the race, but Harvard crept up to take second position ahead of Cal at the 500-meter mark by four seats. By the midway point, Cal was in a battle for third with Yale who pulled nearly even. The Bears were able to make a move and take command of the third position over the second half of the race to take bronze in a time of 5:41.560.
 
Sunday Results
 
V8+
1. Washington - 05:27.233
2. Harvard - 05:28.976
3. California - 05:30.446
4. Princeton- 05:34.469
5. Yale - 05:34.729
6. Syracuse - 05:37.749
 
2V8+
1. Washington - 05:34.317
2. Princeton - 05:36.920
3. Dartmouth - 05:39.807
4. California - 05:41.710
5. Harvard - 05:44.960
6. Brown - 05:50.137
 
3V8+
1. Washington - 05:39.028
2. Princeton - 05:41.477
3. California - 05:41.560
4. Brown - 05:48.615
5. Dartmouth - 05:48.972
6. Harvard - 05:51.682
 
V4+ grand final (Saturday)
1. Washington - 06:15.019
2. Dartmouth - 06:17.432
3. FIT - 06:19.146
4. Colgate - 06:22.286
5. California - 06:22.356
6. Brown - 06:25.976
 
Sunday Lineups
 
V8+
Coxswain: Luca Vieira
Stroke: Tommy Barrell
7: Wilson Morton
6: Tobias Kristensen
5: Harry Manton
4: Noah Anger
3: Robbie Prosser
2: Alexander Baroni
Bow: Pablo Moreno
 
2V8+
Coxswain: Iliad Izadi
Stroke: Tomba Morreau
7: Nathan Phelps
6: Maximilian Pfautsch
5: Jamie Arnold
4: Rory Menzies
3: Leonard Brahms
2: Henry Furrer
Bow: Matthew Gallagher
 
3V8+
Coxswain: Ethan Nghiem
Stroke: Travis Jorgensen
7: Blake Van Doren
6: Jeremy Beale
5: Thomas Heerding
4: Matthew Waddell
3: Evan Gold
2: Nemanja Luledzija
Bow: Mihajlo Dedic
 
STAY POSTED
For further coverage of Cal men's rowing, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalMrowing), Instagram (@calmrowing) and Facebook (Cal Crew).