REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Washington's men's rowing team won four out of five races, including the featured varsity eight race, at the 117th Cal Dual Saturday morning.
 
The Huskies, who entered the week with the nation's No. 3-ranked varsity eight, beat the No. 1-ranked Golden Bears by about a length to bring the Schoch Cup back to Seattle after Cal had won the preview three meetings.
 
The Huskies also won in the second and third varsity eights, and the freshman eight, while Cal got the win in the varsity four. Combined, Washington's men's and women's teams won eight out of 10 races against Cal on Saturday.
 
"This year, we made it  a team goal to win the Dual," UW men's coach Michael Callahan said. "It was important to us as a team. It was a complete team effort. The coaches had charged everyone with making everyone else on the team better."
 
The varsity eight, with senior coxswain Rielly Milne and stroke rower Bram Schwarz leading the way, rowed the 2,000 meters in 5:27.6, a little over three seconds ahead of California's time of 5:30.9.
 
"The guys took the opportunity and capitalized today," Callahan said. "It's a midseason race and it was very important, but we have big steps to make as we go forward. We'll celebrate this as a program, but we're back to the drawing board tomorrow."
 
Last year, Cal's varsity eight won the Dual, but Washington beat the Bears in the Pac-12 Championships and finished ahead of the in the IRA grand final.
 
In the second varsity eight, the Huskies took the lead early and, while the Bears cut into the Huskies' open-water advantage right at the end, it wasn't enough as the UW won by just under a length. Coxed by Kimmons Wilson and stroked by Michiel Mantel, the Huskies won in 5:33.8, ahead of the Bears' 5:36.9.
 
Washington's freshmen earned the win in their race. Coxswain Adam Gold of Seattle and stroke rower Gert-Jan van Doorn paced the Husky frosh to the win in 5:46.6, three seconds ahead of the Golden Bears, in 5:49.6.
 
The men's varsity four race was a close one the entire way. Washington, coxed by Thomas Fuller, tried to catch the Bears in the final few hundred meters, but Cal held off the Huskies for a two-seat victory. The Bears finished in 6:20.6, just over a second ahead of the UW, in 6:21.8
 
Washington's men opened the day with a relatively close victory, beating the Bears in the third varsity eight race by about a boat-length. With Braeden Daste in the coxswain's seat and stroked by Bothell's Evan Olson, the Huskies won by four seconds, 5:40.5 to 5:44.5.
 
Up Next
After a weekend off, the UW rowing teams return to action at the Windermere Cup/Opening Day regatta May 5. The Washington women will square off with the Dutch National Team, finalists at the 2017 World Championships, while the men take on the reigning collegiate champions from Great Britain (Oxford Brooks University) and Canada (University of British Columbia).
 
UW Men's Lineups
 
VARSITY 8+
Shell: Carl Lovsted
Cox: Rielly Milne (Woodinville, Wash./Brentwood School)
Stroke: Bram Schwarz (Haarlem, Netherlands)
7: Viktor Pivac (Belgrade, Serbia)
6: Samuel Halbert (Redmond, Wash./Woodinville)
5: Madison Molitor (Moses Lake, Wash./Moses Lake)
4: Andrew Gaard (Madison, Wis./West)
3: Chris Carlson (Bedford, N.H./Brewster Academy)
2: Sean Kelly (Princeton, N.J./Plainsboro South)
Bow: Elijah Maesner (Duvall, Wash./Eastlake)
 
SECOND VARSITY 8+
Shell: Grand Challenger
Cox: Kimmons Wilson (Orlando, Fla./Winter Park)
Stroke: Michiel Mantel (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
7: Simon van Dorp (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
6: George Esau (Long Lake, Minn./Orono)
5: Tennyson Federspiel (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue)
4: Robert Karlen (Everett, Wash./Walter Johnson (Md.))
3: Arne Landboe (Shoreline, Wash./Shorewood)
2: Ben Davison (Inverness, Fla./Citrus)
Bow: Philipp Nonnast (Frankfurt am Main, Germany)
 
FRESHMAN 8+
Shell: Chuck Holtz '07 '09
Cox: Adam Gold (Seattle, Wash./Seattle Academy)
Stroke: Gert-Jan van Doorn (Leiden, Netherlands)
7: Peter Lancashire (Port Macquarie, Australia)
6: Steve Rosts (Jordan, Ont., Canada/Eden)
5: Ian Engstrom (Lincoln, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury Regional)
4: Jack Sclafani (Newport Beach, Calif./Mater Dei)
3: Chase Barrows (Snohomish, Wash./Archbishop Murphy)
2: Chase Deitner (Perth, Australia)
Bow: Jeffrey Theirs (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt)
 
VARSITY 4+
Shell: Lou Gellermann
Stroke: Mason Pollock (Los Angeles, Calif./Gunnary School)
3: Sam Pettet (Seattle, Wash./Garfield)
2: Pau Turina (Portland, Ore./Benson Tech)
Bow: Harry Fox (Melbourne, Australia)
Cox: Thomas Fuller (Menlo Park, Calif./Menlo-Atherton)
 
THIRD VARSITY 8+
Shell: Chuck Holtz
Cox: Braeden Daste (Redmond, Wash./Interlake)
Stroke: Evan Olson (Bothell, Wash./Bothell)
7: Connor Gann (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge)
6: Luca Lovisolo (Torino, Italy)
5: Sam Goertz (Bellevue, Wash/Issaquah/Bellevue College)
4: Alexander Vollmer (Hamburg, Germany)
3: David Bridges (Portland, Ore./Jesuit)
2: Max Rennie (Deniliquin, Australia)
Bow: Harvey Kay (Nottingham, U.K.)