SEATTLE – Washington men's and women's rowing teams open the 2019 postseason at Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif., where the Huskies will seek to defend their back-to-back titles at the Pac-12 Championships this Sunday, May 19.
 
Both the men's and women's programs will race in the varsity four, the novice/freshman eight, and the first, second and third varsity eight finals (there are no heats or semifinals – only championship finals).
 
Last year, the Huskies won both the men's and women's Pac-12 titles, sweeping the two for the second year in a row. Prior to 2017, the last time that UW had won both the men's and women's championships was 1997 (during the span between 1997 and 2017, the Husky men won nine Pac-10/12 titles and the women won six, but never in the same year). In 2017, the Husky men won four out of five races (all but the Freshman 8+) while the women won all five. In 2018, those same results repeated.
 
PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE (Updated! ... as of 8:00 p.m. PT on Saturday)
(Sunday, May 19; all times PT; all races are grand finals)
8:00 a.m. – Men's Varsity 4+
8:15 a.m. - Women's Varsity 8+
8:30 a.m. – Men's Varsity 8+
8:45 a.m. – Women's Second Varsity 8+
9:00 a.m. – Men's Second Varsity 8+
9:15 a.m. – Women's Varsity 4+
9:30 a.m. – Men's Third Varsity 8+
9:45 a.m. – Women's Third Varsity 8+
10:00 a.m. – Men's Freshman 8+
10:15 a.m. – Women's Novice 8+
 
The men's championship will feature No. 2-ranked Washington and No. 4 California, according to the most recent IRA/USRowing Coaches Poll. Also ranked are No. 13 Stanford and No. 17 Oregon State.
 
"All this year, we've tried to challenge our team by raising the level of competition in our schedule," UW men's coach Michael Callahan said. "The Pac-12 Championships are another opportunity to test ourselves.
 
"We'll be facing a very strong and improving Pac-12 field," Callahan continued,"and our guys just have to go down there and do it."
 
On the women's side, the Pac-12 Conference features the top three teams in the nation in the latest CRCA/USRowing Coaches Poll: No. 1 Washington, No. 2 California and No. 3 Stanford. Additionally, USC is ranked No. 15 and Oregon State is No. 19.
 
"You're going to see the top-three teams in the the country in a finals-only event," UW women's coach Yasmin Farooq explained. "We are anticipating close, exciting races."
 
While only two eights and a four race at NCAA Championships, the Pac-12's features five crews and a total of 41 student-athletes.
 
"The magic of Pac-12s is that we'll have our top-five boats on both our men's and women's teams competing at our conference championship together," Farooq said. "We're pushing one another every day, all season long at home in Seattle, so to get to compete together on a championship stage is really special."
 
The Pac-12 Championships will air on the Pac-12 Networks the following Sunday, May 26 at 12:00 noon (women) and 12:30 p.m. (men). PT. Those broadcasts will repeat numerous times on the primary Pac-12 Network as well as the regional channels over the follow week or two.
 
There will be no live video coverage of the championships, so the best way to follow the action "live" is via social media, particularly Twitter (@UW_Rowing), and via this live results link.
 
PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS SCORING
Crews are awarded points for where they place in each race (the men's V4+ and the women's N8+ are not scored and do not factor into the team championship scoring). The team with the most total points is crowed Pac-12 champion. The points system differs for the men and women. Here is the breakdown:
 
MEN'S POINT SYSTEM
Place   V8       2V8      F8/3V8
1          32        24        16
2          28        21        14
3          24        18        12
4          20        15        10
5          16        12        8
6          12        9          6
7          8          6          4
8          4          3          2
9          0          0          0
 
WOMEN'S POINT SYSTEM
Place   V8       2V8     V4       3V8
1          21        14        7          3.5
2          18        12        6          3
3          15        10        5          2.5
4          12        8          4          2
5          9          6          3          1.5
6          6          4          2          1
7          3          2          1          0.5
 
For the men's scoring, each program receive points based on the better of its two finishes in the freshman and third varsity eight races (e.g., if a team finishes first in the 3V8+ and third in the F8+, it gets 16 points, while the team that finishes first in the F8+ in that scenario also receives 16).
 
In both the men's and women's competitions, the finish in the varsity eight would be utilized as a tie-breaker. So, in the case of a tie in the number of total points, the institution with the better finish in the varsity eight race would be awarded the team championship.
 
NEXT UP
After next weekend off, both the UW men's and women's team will head out to national championship regattas. The women will compete at the NCAA Championships May 31-June 2 at the Indianapolis Rowing Center. On those same dates, the men will return to Lake Natoma for the Intercollegiate Rowing Association's championship regatta. Last year, the women's team finished second at NCAAs, while the men finished second in the varsity eight grand final (the winner of which is considered the men's "national champion") while taking the overall points title.
 
ABOUT WASHINGTON ROWING
Rowing at University of Washington was established in 1901 with support from the local business community. In 1903, Washington entered its first intercollegiate race and defeated California, starting their storied "Cal Dual" rivalry. From this beginning, UW crews became the champions in the nation, winning the Gold Medal in the Olympics in 1936 as described in the New York Times bestseller The Boys in the Boat. UW has continued its tradition of winning championships and Olympic medals, and today is one of the best university rowing programs in the world. With its state-of-the-art training facility located on the UW campus right on the shores of Lake Washington, surrounded by mountains and in close proximity to the iconic Montlake Cut, Washington Rowing attracts the best men and women student-athletes from the Pacific Northwest and around the world. More information at GoHuskies.com, WashingtonRowing.com and @UW_Rowing.