No. 1 Cal Men Fail to Qualify for National Rowing Final

Cal’s No. 1-ranked varsity eight crew suffered a stunning upset loss in the semifinals of the IRA national rowing championships on Saturday and failed to qualify for Sunday’s final. One report indicated a Cal rower "caught a crab" during its semifinal heat, dooming the Bears to a sixth-place finish in its heat.

Cal was the favorite to win its 20th national championship after defeating No. 2 Washington to win the MPSF conference title two weeks ago. Washington and Dartmouth seemed like the only competition for the Bears, who were expected to ease into Sunday’s Grand Final in Camden, New Jersey.

In the IRA nationals, the winner of the varsity 8+ Grand Final is declared the national champion, and Cal seemed well on its way when it won its first heat on Friday to advance to Saturday’s semifinal.

Cal began its six-boat semifinal heat on Saturday in good position, holding the lead after the first 500 meters and still ahead of the pack after 1,000 meters. The Bears had a half-second lead over Harvard at the halfway point, but the Crimson passed Cal on the third leg and led the Golden Bears by four-tenths of a second heading into the final 500.

Cal figured to be able to make up that deficit on the final leg or at least to finish in the top three to qualify for the final.  But the Bears faded badly, timing 1:40.273 over the final 500. It suggests something must have happened to the Cal crew at that stage, because that’s nearly 20 seconds slower than what would be expected from the Bears’ crew.  Cal finished last among the six boats, more than 18 seconds behind first-place Harvard.

A tweet by Washington, which won the other semifinal heat, indicates Cal caught a crab in its semifinbal.