UW Crew | Huskies win Pac-10

The Washington men's varsity eight and junior varsity eight each captured gold Sunday, leading the Huskies to their 29th conference title at the Pac-10 rowing championships on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif.

Washington narrowly beat California by three points for its first Pac-10 men's title since 2004. USC won the women's title, while the Huskies women finished third overall.

The top-ranked UW men's eight is 8-0 this season. The Huskies beat No. 2-ranked Cal for the second time this season, crossing the finish line in 5 minutes, 46.35 seconds, more than 1 ½ seconds ahead of the Golden Bears.

Fourth-ranked Stanford finished third in 5:52.94, and Washington State was seventh out of seven boats in 6:34.30. The Cougars men also finished seventh in the team standings.

The JV eights won in 6:01.96. Cal was second again, in 6:07.24.

In the women's varsity eight, No. 16 UW edged into the grand finals with a third-place finish in the morning heat, but fell to sixth in the final, crossing the line in 6:55.01. The Women of Troy won the title in 6:40.13.

The Gonzaga women's novice eights repeated as champions, stroking to a comfortable win in 7:06.43. The Huskies were second in 7:11.43 and Washington State was fourth in 7:24.61.

The Washington women's third-place finish means they must hope to receive one of seven at-large bids Tuesday to the NCAA regatta, May 25-27 on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. USC and the top finishers in four other regions receive automatic bids.

From sports-information reports