Cal, Yale Varsity Eights Advance to Grand Finals at Rowing Nationals

No. 1-ranked Bears, No. 2 Bulldogs win their men's semifinal heats to set up Sunday's exciting championship race

The much anticipated matchup is now set.

No. 1-ranked Cal, the dominant boat from the West, and No. 2-ranked Yale, the powerhouse of the East, both won their men's varsity eight semifinal heats Saturday morning in the IRA national rowing championship at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J., and they will be the two favorites in Sunday's grand finals.

The Golden Bears are coached by Scott Frandsen, who won three national championshipa as a member of Cal's varsity eight in 2000 through 2002, and he will be going against the man who coached him at Cal, Steve Gladstone, who is now the coach at Yale.

Cal will be shooting for its first Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) rowing championship since 2016, while Yale is seeking its fourth straight national title, winning in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and not competing the next two years. (The IRA nationals were canceled in 2020, and the Ivy League did not field intercollegiate athletic teams in 2021.)

Neither Cal nor Yale has lost a race in the water this season, and will be facing each other for the first time this season.

The team competition is at stake as well, but rowers and rowing fans consider the winner of the varsity eight grand finals as the national championship school. The national rankings are based on the varsity eights' results.

In the first varsity eight semifinal, Cal finished first in a time of 5:33.331, which was 2.66 seconds ahead of second-place Washington.

Yale won the second semifinal in a time 5:43.950, which was 1.87 seconds ahead of second-place Syracuse.

The top three finishers of each semifinal advanced to the finals, so Cal, Yale, Washington, Syracuse, Harvard and Brown will vie for the national title on Sunday. But it would be a surprise if Cal or Yale is not the winner.

Yale and Cal also won their semifinal heats in the second varsity eight competition and will advance to the finals. Cal and Yale also qualified their boats for the third varsity eight finals, although Yale won its heat in which the Golden Bears finished third.

The Golden Bears finished first in the varsity four petite finals (boats that did not qualify for the grand finals in that event).

Here is a video of Saturday's races, with Cal's varsity eight semifinal starting about 44 minutes into the video, and Yale's semifinal starting after that:

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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