Battling Through the Storm
Bates repeats, UCO makes history and Cal regains its title at the NCAA national rowing championships
Words Alejandro López
Photography GREG WAGNER/ CAL ATHLETICS
34 schools. Three divisions. One ultimate goal. Between May 25-26, collegiate teams from across the US descended upon Sarasota, Florida’s Nathan Benderson Park, to compete in the women’s NCAA national rowing championships.
And while sub-tropical Storm Alberto forced significant schedule changes, it did little to dampen a weekend of quality racing. Two divisional titles were decided by four points or fewer and even more races were decided by narrower margins.
Division I
The University of California needed to bounce back.
Two weeks earlier, the previously-undefeated Golden Bears slumped at the 2018 Pac-12 Row-v
Cal women’s coach Al Acosta