July 25, 2005

BERKELEY - A pair of Cal rowers - Erin Cafaro and Iva Obradovic - captured gold medals at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships last weekend in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Cafaro helped the U.S. women's four to the title, while Obradovic won the women's single scull.

In the women's four, the U.S. squad came from behind to defeat France by 1.91 seconds. The Americans trailed by more than two seconds early in the race, but made up much of the deficit over the second 500 meters. By the 1,500-meter mark, the U.S. held a 1.4 second edge, and the boat crossed the finish line in 7:24.29, followed by France (7:26.20) and Belarus (7:27.19).

Cafaro, who hails from Modesto and recently completed her senior season with the Bears, was joined in the four by Stesha Carle (Long Beach), Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) and Catherine Starr (Fairfield, Conn.).

Obradovic, a rising sophomore who was competing for her native Serbia, started on the outside in lane six. She remained in the middle of the pack for the first half of the race before taking control at the halfway point. Obradovic finished in 8:25.74, almost five seconds ahead of runner-up Julia Michalska of Poland (8:30.48).

"Everyone at Cal women's crew is very happy and proud of Erin and Iva," head coach Dave O'Neill said. "Both of them are terrific athletes and have worked very hard for this achievement. This was Erin's first international regatta, and she did a superb job stroking the U.S. four. Iva placed third in this event last year, and she had obviously added some power this year. To win the single by open water is very impressive."

The races completed a fulfilling year for the Cal duo, as both were members of the Golden Bear varsity eight that captured both Pac-10 and NCAA titles in May.