SAN DIEGO – No. 10 California women's rowing put up a strong battle against top-5 programs Texas and Washington on the first day of the San Diego Crew Classic, as the Golden Bears finished in second or third place in all five of their preliminary races.
 
Cal's top varsity eight took the waters first in the Jessop-Whittier Cup preliminary race alongside No. 5 Washington, Wisconsin, Sacramento State and UC San Diego. Cal and No.5 Washington began the battle for the best time early, with the two programs pulling ahead of the others right from the jump. The Huskies had a four-seat lead at the 1000-meter mark, but the Bears answered well and began to close the gap as the race continued. The two boats were pacing each other down the stretch and Cal's final sprint took away a couple of seats from Washington's lead, but the Huskies held onto their slight advantage to take first place in the heat with a 6:35.693. The Bears' final time was 6:36.847, the best time recorded by any Cal boat on the day.
 
Cal's first varsity four finished third in the preliminary race of the Karen Plumleigh Cortney Cup. There was overlap between the top four boats through the first portion of the race, with Cal sitting in third just behind No. 2 Texas and Washington. The Bears held off UCLA in fourth place for the entirety of the race and had an open-water finish over the Bruins to capture a 7:52.019 final time.
 
The Bears and the Huskies had a showdown in the 2V8+ race, with the two programs charging down the stretch and leaving the other crews behind right at the start of the contest. Washington began to pull away at the 1500-meter mark and held onto the advantage, taking first place with a time of 7:00.571 just three seconds ahead of Cal, which finished in 7:04.622
 
In what was the first time Cal has sent a 2V4+ to the San Diego Crew Classic, the Bears settled into second-place behind Washington early on in the race and pushed to about a stern-lead over UCLA in third. As the crews made their way down the stretch, Cal maintained its second-place position and held off Washington's second entry, which pulled ahead of UCLA to notch third.
 
In the open event, Cal's 3V8+ and Washington were in a close race, tightly locked at the halfway point of the course in a battle for second behind Texas, which pulled ahead to an open-water lead early on. The Bears made a move to push ahead of the Huskies as the last 500 meters commenced and took a two-seat advantage into the final sprint. Cal finished just ahead of Washington to clinch second place with a 7:24.513 final time.
 
The Bears will return to the water tomorrow for the grand finals beginning at 9:23 a.m. PT. All races can be watched via Overnght live stream, and live results can be accessed here.
 
Lineups:
V8+
Coxswain: Julia Fullington
8. Olivia Roth
7. Lily Abbott
6. Minou Bouman
5. Ella Wheeler
4. Julia Irmler
3. Lola Crampin
2. Star Rose Miller
1. Lotta van Westreenen
 
2V8+
Coxswain: Samantha Jaffe
8. Giulia Bosio
7. Charlotte Johnson
6. Vittoria Pastorelli
5. Allegra O'Sullivan
4. Zara Hoadley
3. Bonnie Mollee
2. Alexandra (Alex) Pearson
1. Lily Pember
 
V4+
Coxswain: Kira Obsitnik
4. Vivi Spitz
3. Chloe Frushtick
2. Alexandra Ausfahl
1. Annie Brown
 
2V4+
Coxswain: Emily Kendall
4. Francesca Hammerer
3. Pippa Jamieson
2. Eve Barrancotto
1. Kylie Landers
 
3V8+
Coxswain: Saira Mitchell
8. Gabrielle Jennings
7. Charlotte Hill
6. Amy Furlonger
5. Harriet Cheetham
4. Beatrice Knight
3. Kate Nixon
2. Claire Banks
1. Kylee Harrington
 
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For further coverage of Cal women's rowing, follow the Bears on Instagram (@calwrowing) and Facebook (Cal Crew).