The No. 8 California women's rowing team is set to compete at the 2026 NCAA Rowing Championship from Friday to Sunday at Lake Lanier Olympic Park in Gainesville, Georgia. Fans can watch a live stream of the regatta on NCAA.com and follow along via live stats on Regatta Timing.
 
The Golden Bears have won four national titles in program history, with the most recent two coming under current Cal head coach Al Acosta in 2016 and 2018. Cal was also crowned the national champion in back-to-back seasons in 2005 and 2006 and has posted 14 top-3 finishes at the NCAA Championships.
 
Cal was one of 12 programs to receive an at-large selection to the NCAA Championship, which will feature 22 of the nation's top collegiate programs. Each team will field two varsity eights and one varsity four crew. Cal will enter the regatta as the No. 7 seed in the varsity eight and the No. 10 seed in both the second varsity eight and varsity four events.
 
The Bears are one of five ACC programs to punch its ticket to the national championship, joined by ACC Champion Stanford, Miami, Syracuse and Virginia. Cal is coming off a third-place finish at the ACC Championship two weeks ago in Raleigh, North Carolina.
 
The top three finishers of each heat on Friday will advance to the AB semifinals and the rest will go to the CD semifinals, all held on Saturday. The top three from the AB semifinals will move on to the A (Grand) final while three will go to the B (Petite) final and three to the CD finals on Sunday. The winner of the national title will be determined by total points earned across all three boat categories.
 
Cal finished in a tie for ninth place with Rutgers in the overall standings at last year's NCAA Championship. The varsity four won the petite final, while the varsity eight took fourth place and the 2V8+ took fifth place in their respective petite finals.  
 
Race Schedule (All times PT):
Friday, May 29
7:00 a.m. – V8+ Heat 2: Boston University, UCF, Texas, California, Ohio State
7:48 a.m. – 2V8+ Heat 2: Northeastern, California, Texas, Brown, Columbia
8:36 a.m. – V4+ Heat 2: Boston University, California, Texas, Yale Michigan
 
Saturday, May 30
5:12-5:48 a.m. – V8+ Semifinals
6:00-6:36 a.m. – 2V8+ Semifinals
6:48-7:24 a.m. – V4+ Semifinals
 
Sunday, May 31
5:12-5:24 a.m. – V4+ Petite Final
5:36-5:48 a.m. – 2V8+ Petite Final
6:00-6:12 a.m. – V8+ Petite Final
6:24-6:36 a.m. – V4+ Grand Final
6:48-7:00 a.m. – 2V8+ Grand Final
7:12-7:34 a.m. – V8+ Grand Final
 
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For further coverage of Cal women's rowing, follow the Bears on Instagram (@calwrowing) and Facebook (Cal Crew).