In the span of a weekend in early June, Husky fans could be heard chanting “We’re No. 1” coast to coast. In a stunning sweep, both the UW men’s and women’s crews won national collegiate championships.
On the West Coast, the women’s varsity eight rowed to the national tide June 1 in the inaugural NCAA Crew Championships on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif. It was the first NCAA team championship for any UW athletic program. (Until last year, the NCAA did not sanction a national football title, so the 1991 football team’s national championship isn’t an official NCAA honor.)
The women overcame a false start to beat Princeton, Brown and Virginia and complete an undefeated season.
“This is unbelievable,” said Kari Green, who rowed in the bow position for the varsity.
The victory adds another chapter to the UW women’s crew glorious history. A perennial powerhouse, the UW came into the event ranked No. 1 in the West. The women last won a national title in 1988 when it was an unsanctioned sport.
The excitement continued on the East Coast, where the men’s first varsity, second varsity and freshman crews won titles at the prestigious 95th Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships on the Cooper River outside Camden, N.J.
“I couldn’t be happier,” said UW Men’s Coach Bob Ernst of the victory, considered the national championship event of the oldest intercollegiate sport in the U.S.
The men’s varsity championship—the first outright national championship for the Huskies since 1970—helped ease the sting of last year’s narrow 1.3-second loss to Princeton in the finals.
The men’s varsity won the Varsity Challenge Cup, while the second varsity captured the Kennedy Cup and the freshman squad took honors in the Steward Cup, marking the first time the UW has swept all three events since 1950.