Several months of duals and championships, stretching from Sarasota to Seattle, Schuylkill to San Diego. But none of that matters now, as 24 of the best crews in the country will come face-to-face on the Cooper River – with only nine men able to leave with one of the most valuable gold medals in the sport. This year, we enter the championships with no undefeated crews, leaving plenty thinking they will be able to fight for the gold medal at Sunday lunchtime.
University of California – Berkeley
Following their sweep of the regatta in 2023, the California Golden Bears had a ‘down year’ in 2024, finishing third in both the varsity eight and the Ten Eyck team standings as a number of athletes left Berkeley to prepare for the Paris Olympic Games with their respective national teams. However, for the 2025 season, they returned four Olympians and entered the season as heavy favourites. In the unpredictability of racing, however, things did not go to plan as they fell in the UW/Cal Dual. However, with adjustments to lineups and boat setup, they recovered at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship to claim the inaugural title in the varsity eight. This result means that California will be the number one crew in the country entering the national championship – a status they have every intention of defending on Sunday.
University of Washington
Their biggest rivals on the west coast, the University of Washington swept the championships 12 months ago and remain a significant power in the sport. They are winners of the Varsity Challenge Cup on 20 occasions, a total only surpassed by regatta-founders Cornell. This year, they have also brought back Olympic talent in the form of silver medallist Logan Ullrich and were one of two first varsity crews to end the regular season undefeated. They lost this record at their conference championship but will be looking to avenge that defeat against California. Washington will look to secure their 21st title on the Cooper River, having won on the last two occasions that the regatta came to Cherry Hill.
Harvard University
From a tight field in the east, Harvard University emerged as the frontrunner this season. After losing their season opener to Washington and Brown, they have gone undefeated across the remainder of season, culminating in a glorious finish at Eastern Sprints where they won the showpiece event by 1.7 seconds, marking their first such victory in a decade. Over the last two seasons, Charley Butt has rebuilt this programme, as the ten-time national champions look to win their first national title in 20 years. This year, they may not be favoured to overturn the impressive West Coast crews, but if they show similar speed improvements to 12 months ago, don’t count them out from matching their silver medal.
Dartmouth College
This year has been a very successful one for Dartmouth as they ended the regular season undefeated and finishing second at Eastern Sprints, a result they only bettered in 1992. That year, they finished second at the national championship, following a three-way share of the IRA title. 33 years later, they have assembled another top-quality group. Their six returners from last year’s crew are joined by Olympian Billy Bender as well as freshmen Isaiah Harrison and Aron Kalmar, who have both made significant contributions to the top crew. Barring the COVID-affected 2021 championships, the big green has not raced in a varsity eight grand final since 2004 nor medalled since the shared gold in 1992. With these three strong additions to the crew, they will be dreaming of a trip to the final medal pontoon of the season for the first time in several decades.
Grand Final Contenders
Aside from the above, there are a few strong programmes who will be fighting for spots in the grand final. Based on their showing #5 Princeton and #6 Yale would be the next picks for spots in the showpiece race, with the latter rising to a peak at the business end of the season following a challenging series of duals. However, these spots will not be easy to maintain. Pushing them strongly will be #7 Brown who were close to a medal at Eastern Sprints and will not want to be racing in the petite final two years in a row. Also pushing into this conversation is #8 Stanford, who have a young and talented crew coming off the West Coast. This crew has a number of impressive results so far this season, but this will be their first race of the season outside of Northern California – if they can travel well then just a second grand final since 2009 could be in store.
AB Semifinal Contenders
While many of the programmes in this event will have their eyes on Sunday’s final, for others the weekend will be defined on Friday as they seek to ensure a top-12 finish by finishing in the top half of their respective heat. While the battles in some of the other heats may be more predictable, the closest race of the day may well be between #12 Wisconsin and #13 Boston University. They have lined up against each other three times this year, with the Badgers having the edge on all occasions by an average of 2.9 seconds. This margin has been narrowing, though, and the Terriers would love to win when it matters most: these two programmes have no love lost between them.
New Qualifiers
With the number of crews in this event capped at 24, the teams taking part differ from year-to-year, leading to a number of crews that could be described as ‘happy to be there’. Missing from the 2024 entry list was #16 Temple, a crew who would not fit the description. This year’s Dad Vail champions, the owls face a tough test to make it to the AB semifinals at their first championship since 2022, being drawn in the same heat as local rivals, #9 Penn. However, if they are in the lower finals, they will be aiming to challenge for the win, which would rank second year head coach Brandon Cunningham’s crew as the 13th best in the country.
For the other two new faces, it has been a bit longer as, barring the 2021 campaign where the cap was lifted, Holy Cross have not raced an eight on the biggest stage since in 2015, while Gonzaga have not qualified to bring a big boat to the East Coast since 2014.
Prediction
With their only loss of the season coming by a narrow margin against the biggest home-water advantage in the sport, I am going to pick California to take the win here, ahead of their fiercest rivals Washington, with Harvard rounding out the podium.
About The Author
Discover more from JRN
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
