Once again, the UW men’s crew has resumed its rightful place atop the rowing world.
Fueled by a desire to show that last year’s second-place finish in the national championships was a fluke, the Husky men’s crew in June dominated the 109th Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships in New Jersey on the way to capturing its 14th national title.
The Huskies, who entered the race ranked No. 1, routed second-place Harvard and five other schools to expunge the bitter loss of 2010’s championship to California on the 2,000-meter course on New Jersey’s Cooper River.
The Huskies won four events, including the second varsity eight and the critically important varsity eight that establishes the best and fastest crew in the U.S. In addition, the Huskies walked away with a record-setting fifth straight Ten Eyck Cup, which is given to the team with the best performance across all races.
At about 500 meters into the varsity-eight race, the Huskies pulled away from California and Brown to take the lead. Harvard, which upset the Huskies in a semi-heat, couldn’t keep up with the blistering 40-strokes-a-minute pace set by the Huskies.
In an interview posted on the Husky Crew YouTube channel, coxswain Sam Ojserkis said, “We knew we couldn’t win this race with anything less than our best (performance).”
Michael Callahan was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year for the third time in four seasons.