May 13, 2001
The No. 1 Cal men's varsity eight won its fourth consecutive Pac-10 Championship on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, May 13. The Washington Huskies finished second and Oregon State took the bronze. For the record it is the first time in the 100 plus years of Cal crew history that Cal has won the Pacific Coast/Pac-10 title four years in a row.
"They're getting faster," said coach Steve Gladstone. "We're pleased with the result and we can now look forward to heading back to the IRA."
In the varsity race, Cal set the pace out of the blocks and established nearly a boat length over second-place Washington by the 500 meter mark with OSU open water down. Cal continued to charge extending its lead to nearly six seconds at the midway point and 10 seconds by the crews covered the 2000 meter course. Oregon State meanwhile pushed Washington the entire race and before finishing two seconds out of second. Stanford and Western Washington rounded out the final. UC Davis withdrew from the competition.
The Cal men's JV led the competition from wire to wire to claim its fourth consecutive Pac-10 Championship. The Bears came off the line smartly and established a slight lead over Washington at the 500-meter mark as the other crews in the race were more than seven seconds off the pace. Cal took another second on the Huskies in the second 500, before breaking the race wide open in the final 1000. The Bears margin of victory over the Huskies was 8.3 seconds. Oregon State finished third.
In the men's frosh/novice eight competition the Bears were trying to turn the tables on Washington after suffer two five-second defeats at the hands of Washington earlier in the season. The Bears and Huskies bolted off the line and quickly had an open water margin over third place Oregon State as it became a two boat race for the gold. Washington held a one second lead over the Bears at the 500 and was up 1.6 seconds at the 1000. Cal took a little bit back in the third 500, closing to within 1.3 seconds, but Washington had more left in the tank over the final 400 meters as they held off their rivals for a four second victory. Cal will have another opportunity to face Washington at the IRA National Championships where both frosh crews are among the medal favorites.
In the men's varsity four competition, Cal led from the start taking a length on Washington in the first 500 meters with UC San Diego still in the hunt from the silver. By the 1000, Cal had extended its lead to seven seconds over the Huskies. The Bears powered through the line to take the win by more than 10 seconds.
The Cal men's crew won the Pac-10 team points trophy and Golden Bears, Jake Wetzel, Luke Walton, Nito Simonsen and Mladen Stegic earned All-Pac-10 honors.
RACE TIME EVENT FIRST SECOND THIRD FOURTH FIFTH SIXTH SEVENTH
23 1:10 MV4 GF CAL 6:40.7 WASH 6:53.4 UCSD 6:54.3 SSU 7:00 OSU 7:13.7 SDS 7:17.2
26 1:40 MFN8 GF WASH 6:02.0 CAL 6:05.2 OSU 6:18.3 UCD 6:31.1 STAN 6:31.5 UCSD 6:48.7
31 2:30 MJV8 GF CAL 6:03.1 WASH 6:11.4 OSU 6:26.0 UCD 6:35.8 WWU 6:46.1 SSU 7:15.2 WSU 7:18.9
37 3:30 MV8 GF CAL 5:51.8 WASH 6:01.9 OSU 6:03.0 STAN 6:15.2 WWU 6:31.8 UCD DNP
Continued
Pac-10 Championships Lineups:
Varsity Eight JV Eight Novice Eight Varsity Four
Cox Michael Vallarelli Franco Arieta Shawn Ghatan Joe Ghory
Stroke Jeffrey Nalty Michael Wallin Rob Austerman Patrik Englund
7 Mladen Stegic Matt Marucheck Matt McLeod Jesse Bauman
6 Jake Wetzel Eric Tiret Rob Curran Robert Deppisch
5 Nito Simonsen Magnus Fleming Padraic Hussey Paul O'Sullivan
4 Filip Filipic Bobby King Zachary Johnson
3 Kevin White Jack Nunn Max Frasca
2 Luke Walton Ivan Smiljanic Matt Todd
Bow Scott Frandsen Neil Armour Andrew Browne
