The Washington men’s rowing team won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) championship on May 17 after a close varsity eight final at Lake Natoma in Gold River, California. The Huskies secured their first conference title as members of the MPSF by winning both the varsity eight and second varsity eight races, while finishing second in three other finals.
The result marks an important milestone for Washington, as the winner of the varsity eight is awarded the overall MPSF Championship. Last year, Washington finished second at this event before going on to win the national championship.
In Sunday’s main event, Washington faced strong competition from rivals California and Stanford. After trailing slightly at early checkpoints, Washington moved into first place by halfway and held off a late push from California to win with a time of 5:40.476—just under two seconds ahead of California’s 5:42.463. Stanford finished third in each of the top three eights races.
The Huskies also won a closely contested second varsity eight final with a time of 5:45.416 against California’s 5:47.312. In other events, Washington placed second behind California in both the third varsity eight and freshman eight finals.
“We overcame a slow start both on the day and in the varsity eight,” said Michael Callahan, who earned his thirteenth conference title as head coach at Washington. “But in the end, we relied on our seniors to pull us out in the top two eights and for the team point trophy. The whole team from top to bottom saw a lot of improvement—from the freshman and gutsy races from the four in the 3V, which each went down to the wire.” Callahan added that “this was a prelude for IRAs that are coming in less than two weeks’ time,” noting it was enough to secure victory despite not being their best performance.
Looking ahead, Callahan said: “We’re excited to have a West Coast national championship… We’ll do our best we can on water.” The Huskies will return to Lake Natoma from May 29-31 as they attempt to defend their IRA national championship title.
