UW women can't get by Cal

SAN DIEGO — Senior rowers Mary Reeves and Yvonneke Stenken put a poster in the locker room of the Washington women's crew this season as a reminder about losing to California in a photo finish at the San Diego Crew Classic a year ago.

The Huskies were determined to avenge that outcome in this year's the race for the Jessop-Whittier Cup yesterday. However, it was not to be.

Cal recorded a three-second victory over Washington and became the first crew other than the Huskies to win in consecutive years since the inception of the event in 1983.

"We didn't want that to happen again," Reeves said. "But what can you do? They raced a really good race."

The Huskies had the fastest time in qualifying on Saturday, but in the final, Cal led from the outset to prevail in 6 minutes, 57.1 seconds over the 2,000-meter course on Mission Bay.

Washington followed in 7:00.63 with Tennessee third in 7:02.68 and Washington State fourth in 7:04.10.

"Our start was a little shaky," Reeves said. "We were solid and fighting back the whole way. But we weren't able to catch them."

The Huskies, seeking to win for the 11th time in 13 years, had six new varsity rowers in the their boat, while making their debut under new coach Eleanor McElvaine.

"Everybody is used to us winning," said McElvaine, formerly the novice coach. "We are used to winning. We don't like second, but at the same time, that's where our speed is right now. We're going to go home and work hard."

Cal senior Martha Helgeland, one of two seniors on her boat, noted that the Bears were also mindful of last year's tight contest with Washington.

"We know that Washington is incredibly tough," Helgeland said. "We have a lot of respect for them. We knew that they were going to come up with a great sprint, so we were just trying to have as much lead as possible."

In the men's race for the Copley Cup, Washington finished third. Cal recorded a two-second victory over Northeastern to win for the sixth straight year.

Washington had the best time in the heats, but started slowly even though the boat included seven members with experience from last year. The Huskies finished in 6:17.39, well behind Cal in 6:09.04.

"Obviously, we would have liked to have done better," said Huskies senior bow Andy Derrick. "Right now, we can go a lot faster than we showed. We didn't handle the water as well as some other teams."

The Cal men, who had the third fastest qualifying time, also kept the lead from the outset for a time of 6:09.4 to extend the longest winning streak in the history of the Copley Cup, first awarded in 1973.

The UW men won the junior-varsity championship for the seventh time in the last 11 years and the Huskies women's novice boat won for the first time since 2001.

Three Seattle adult amateur eights also were victorious.

The Lake Union Rowing Club A Boat won the Women's Club Final in 7:31.18, Pocock Rowing Club won the Men's Masters E/F Final in 6:50.5 and Martha's Moms won the Masters E Final in 7:51.4.

At Mission Bay, San Diego, Calif.

All races were 2,000 meters

Grand Final Results

Copley Cup (Men's Varsity Eight)

1, California 6:09.4. 2, Northeastern 6:11.93. 3, Washington 6:17.39. 4, Temple 6:22.08. 5, Oregon State 6:24.97. 6, Stanford 6:27.69.

Whittier Cup (Women's Varsity Eight)

1, California 6:57.1. 2, Washington 7:00.63. 3, Tennessee 7:02.68. 4, Washington State 7:04.10. 5, Wisconsin 7:06.02. 6, USC 7:09.95. 7, Notre Dame 7:16.90.

Men's Junior Varsity Eight

1, Washington 6:15.8. 2, California 6:21.21. 3, Oregon State 6:27.44. 4, UC Davis 6:43.19. 5, Orange Coast 6:45.53. 6, Minnesota 6:50.13.

Women's Junior Varsity Eight

1, California 7:04.8. 2, Washington 7:10.89. 3, Washington State 7:12.69. 4, Wisconsin 7:16.07. 5, USC 7:19.77. 6, Oregon State 7:27.05.

Men's Freshman Eight

1, California 6:13.15. 2, Stanford 6:21.60. 3, Oregon State 6:24.02. 4, Washington 6:30.23. 5, USC 6:37.86. 6, UC Davis 6:40.78.

Women's Novice Eight

1, Washington 7:05.30. 2, California 7:13.25. 3, Washington State 7:16.39. 4, Oregon State 7:18.35. 5, Clemson 7:23.65. 6, UCLA 7:28.99.