GOLD RIVER, Calif. â The University of California and Barry University each captured national championships to highlight the final day of racing at the 2016 NCAA Rowing Championships at Lake Natoma, Sunday.
California won its third national rowing championship, and first since 2006, as it won the second varsity eight and varsity four titles, along with a second-place finish in the varsity eight to post 129 points, three ahead of second-place Ohio State. The win by the Golden Bears snapped the Buckeyes three-year stranglehold on the title. Virginia finished third with 112 points, followed by Stanford (107), Washington (106), Brown (102), Princeton (100), Texas (98), Wisconsin (80) and Michigan (75) to round out the top 10.
MORE: Complete results
In the varsity eight grand final, Ohio State came from lane 4 to post a two-second win over California in a time of 6 minutes, 19.035 seconds. The win marked the third-straight for the Buckeyes in the V8 race.
In the second varsity eight race, the Golden Bears (6:28.064) rallied from a two-second deficit at the midway point of the race to edge Ohio State (6:28.900) by less than a second for the victory. It marked the first national title by the Bears in the 2V8 race.
In the varsity four grand final, California used a late charge over the final 500 meters to pass Washington for the championship. Calâs winning time of 7:08.410 was .8 seconds ahead of the Husky boat and gave the Bears their third national V4 title and first since 2014.
In the Division II events, Barry captured both the varsity eight and varsity four events en route to its second-straight national title. Barry captured 20 points, easily outpacing second-place Central Oklahoma (15). Western Washington (10) and Mercyhurst (5) rounded out the top 4.
In the varsity eight race, Barry used a strong second 500 meters to pull past Central Oklahoma on its way to a three-second win in 6:44.184. Western Washington finished third, Humboldt State was fourth, while Mercyhurst captured the petite final with a five-second win over Nova Southeastern. It was the second-straight V8 title for Barry. The varsity four produced a similar result as Barry touched first in a time of 7:36.208, five seconds ahead of Central Oklahoma and nine ahead of third-place Western Washington.
