California men's rowing will send its fourth varsity eight to the San Diego Crew Classic this weekend at Crown Point Park in San Diego to participate in both the Men's Collegiate Varsity 8+ Cal Cup and the Men's Open 8+ Anderson Borthwick Memorial Trophy competitions. Preliminary races will be held on Saturday with the finals set for Sunday. The Golden Bears recently checked in at No. 2 in the IRCA/IRA Men's Collegiate Rowing Preseason Coaches Poll.
 
Cal will vie for the Cal Cup along with entries from other universities mostly located on the West coast. The Bears will see top crews from UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, UCLA, USC, San Diego State, UC Davis, University of San Diego, Gonzaga, Orange Coast College, Murrieta College and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The preliminary Cal Cup races will take place over four heats, which begin at 10:24 a.m. PT on Saturday. The A-Final is set for Sunday at 9:51 a.m. 
 
In the open challenge, the Bears will take the waters alongside boats from the Riverside Boat Club, Potomac Boat Club, Newport Aquatic Center, Baja California State Rowing, Crew LAB and the Occoquan Boat Club. Cal's preliminary race will be held at 12:16 p.m. on Saturday, while the final will be contested at 11:35 a.m. on Sunday.
 
At last year's San Diego Crew Classic, Cal sent its freshmen 8+ which swept both of its preliminary races en route to clinching the Cal Cup as they cruised past Gonzaga and UCSD in the final. The young Bears took second in the men's open challenge, finishing less than a second behind Club Nautico de San Juan in the final race.
 
Formed in 1973, the Crew Classic is considered one of the premier spring rowing regattas of the year and annually welcomes more than 4,200 athletes who compete in over 140 races.
 
All races can be viewed via Overnght live stream here, with live results to be published here.