Silver at Pac-12 Championships

Pac-12 Championships
Lake Natoma • Gold RIver, Calif.
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Results

GOLD RIVER, Calif. – No. 6 Stanford women’s rowing captured second place at the Pac-12 Women’s Rowing Championships Sunday at Lake Natoma. The Cardinal took the Silver in an exciting varsity eight race, while it captured the Bronze in the second varsity eight and varsity four and fourth in the third varsity eight to total 35 team points. Cal accumulated 45 to take the conference championship.

In one of the closest races around the nation this season, No. 2 California edged Stanford by 0.8 second in the varsity eight to claim the conference title. Stanford and California staged an exciting dual all the way down the 2000-meter course. The Cardinal took an early one-seat advantage and built a four-seat lead by the 750-meter mark. The Bears made a move to take back two seats at the midpoint of the course. Cal continued to charge and pushed its bow ahead in the final 750 meters, taking a four-seat advantage entering the final 500 meters. Stanford responded with a move of its own, taking back two seats as they approached the finish line. The Bears held off the Cardinal by the slimmest of margins at the line (6:22.0 – 6:22.8).

"The varsity eight was a nail-biter," said Stanford head women's rowing cosch Yasmin Farooq. "It had a little bit of everything you would expect in a varsity eight championship race. No more than a half a length separated the two boats at any point in the race with both Cal and Stanford surging to the lead at different points. We had a strong sprint but it wasn't enough today. That said, it was a battle-tough race, and we're really grateful for all of the lessons and motivation that come with that."

"It was definitely a really exciting race," senior Simone Jacobs added.  "Today we experienced the level of performance and competition that is standard at the NCAAs, and can walk away from this weekend knowing that we are that much more prepared for it. The fact that the finish times were so close reminded me of how proud I am to be a part of the Pac-12 Conference, and I hope to see how much faster we can be two weeks from now."

In the second varsity eight race, Stanford, Washington and California quickly separated themselves from the field. The three boats jockeyed for position early on with Cal in the lead and Washington in second, bow-to-stern over ahead of third-place Stanford at the 500-meter mark. The Cardinal took a half a length lead over fourth-place Washington State at the midpoint of the course. The top three boats held their position over the final half of the course with Cal (6:26.8) taking home the Gold, Washington (6:30.6) winning the Silver and Stanford (6:38.5) capturing the Bronze with the bow-to-stern advantage over the Cougars.

"I'm really proud of the whole team," Farooq said. "All of our boats improved from last year and it was great to come away with medals in all of the NCAA events. That's really tough to do in this conference. Last year, we finished fourth as a team in the Pac-12 and sixth at the NCAA's, so that gives you an idea of how strong the Pac-12 is every year. We'll wait for Tuesday's selection show with the goal of showing more of what we can do at the NCAA's."

Stanford opened the varsity four race in fourth and quickly made a charge towards the front. By 500 meters, the Cardinal overtook USC for third. Stanford continued to take water away from the Trojans and built an open-water advantage throughout the second half of the course. The Cardinal could not catch the top two boats, taking the Bronze with a time of 7:15.4. Cal (7:04.7) won the Gold, while Washington (7:08.8) took the Silver.

Stanford found itself in third place after the first 500 meters of the third varsity eight, holding a five-seat advantage over Washington State. The Cardinal, a half of a length of open water back of California, held its advantage over the Cougars through the midpoint of the course. WSU closed the gap as the boats entered the second half for the course and pushed its bow ahead to overtake third place as they entered the 1,500-meter mark. Stanford completed the course in 6:50.9, seven seats ahead of UCLA. Washington (6:30.6) captured the race by open water, while Cal (6:37.4) took the Silver and Washington State (6:45.2) grabbed the Bronze.     

Stanford now awaits Tuesday’s NCAA Championship Selection show at 2 p.m. PT as teams and seeds are announced for the NCAA Championships, held Friday – Sunday, May 27-29, at the Lake Natoma course. 

The Pac-12 Network will televise the Pac-12 Championships Saturday, May 21 at 11:30 a.m. PT.

Lineups