May 13, 2012

LAKE NATOMA, Calif. -

For the third year in a row, No. 4 California men's crew finished second at the Pac-12 Championships behind now three-year reigning champion No. 1 Washington. The Huskies swept all four races at the 2012 conference meet Sunday at Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif. The Golden Bears took second in every race.

"Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other crew," Cal head coach Mike Teti said about finishing second to Washington for the third straight year. "All of our boats cut the margins. We were looking for improvement and we did that. We just need to keep going. The guys raced hard. It would have been nice to win, but we're building. This is a young group. We'll have a lot of guys coming back next year."

Despite facing the always stiff competition from the top-ranked Huskies, the fourth-ranked Bears also squared off against eighth-ranked Stanford and No. 20 Oregon State at the conference regatta. The last time Cal won the Pac-12 title was in 2009, just prior to the start of Washington's three-year run.

The Huskies topped the Bears by eight seconds in the varsity eight final. Washington led from start to finish, as it did in all four races on the day, and increased its lead as the race went on.

The closest finish of the day came in the freshman eight. The Huskies beat the Bears to the finish line with a time of 5:44.3 to Cal's 5:47.8. The second varsity eight race was also close with Washington beating Cal by a margin of 5:48.6-5:54.1

"We stayed in the races longer," Teti said. "We fought longer. The freshmen were close and the JV eight was close." Teti also gave a shout out to congratulate the Cal women for sweeping Pac-12s for the first time to when their fifth straight conference crown. "Hats off to the Cal women today," Teti said. "It was great to see them sweep like that. It was a good day for Cal today."

The Bears will now take the next two weeks off in preparation for the IRA National Championships from May 31-June 2 in Cherry Hill, N.J. Cal will not only have to contend with Washington once again, but also East Coast powerhouse Harvard, which topped the Bears earlier this season at the San Diego Crew Classic. Teti said the Bears will just go back to work and continue to improve for IRAs.

Prior to IRAs, Teti will attempt to get his U.S. men's eight boat qualified for the Olympics at the Qualification Regatta in Switzerland on May 20. Former Cal coxswain Zach Vlahos will cox the U.S. men's eight.

2012 Pac-12 Championships

Final Team Standings
1. Washington 72 (points)
2. California 63
3. Stanford 49
4. Oregon State 48
5. Washington State 25
6. UCLA 16
7. Colorado 12
8. USC 10

Varsity Eight
1. Washington 5:43.5, 2. California 5:51.5, 3. Stanford 5:57.7
Cal lineup: Cox: Colby Rapson, Christian Reynolds, Luka Dordevic, Cameron Klotz, Patrick McGlone, Ivan Ostojic, Chris Yeager, James Scott, Jack Farthing

Second Varsity Eight
1. Washington 5:48.6, 2. California 5:54.1, 3. Stanford 6:04.1
Cal lineup: Isaac Holden, Cole Reiser, Spencer Hall, Igor Lucic, Chris DeRenzi, Garrett Boccara, Matt Dignan, Atli Thorkelsson

Varsity Four
1. Washington 6:31.5, 2. California 6:40.6, 3. Oregon State 6:57.3
Cal lineup: Cox: Chelsea Lucas, Grant Barnekow, Steve Marino, Christopher Caron-Marquis, Michael Bernerius

Freshman Eight
1. Washington 5:44.3, 2. California 5:47.8, 3. Oregon State 6:11.7
Cal lineup: Cox: Michael Delahanty, Milivoj Vagic, Jovan Jovanovic, Christian Kader, Louis Snelson, Stephen Tuck, Jason Stroud, Richard Walter, Sean Murphy