As the suspense built to a crescendo early Saturday afternoon at Lake Natoma, Simon Taylor and his Washington teammates faced their moment of truth.
With 500 meters left in the men's varsity eight, the last and most prestigious race at the 107th Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships, the Huskies trailed rival Cal by three or four seats.
Time to make a move.
The Huskies surged down the stretch, pulling even with about 250 meters left and drawing ahead of the Bears in the final 100 meters to win by 0.9 seconds, or about two seats.
"We knew at 500 meters to go; it's do or die," said Taylor, a junior. "It was time to hit the gas to the floor. 'Now we go, now we go.'
"We knew we had it in us."
Washington's victory capped a superb day for the Huskies, who took home the Jim Ten Eyck award for the overall team title for the third consecutive year.
UW won the men's freshmen eight and second varsity eight races and also claimed the men's open four.
"It's very important to have a deep team, from the guys in the first boat to the guys in the last boat," said Washington coach Michael Callahan. "It's a tribute to everyone back at the boathouse who didn't make this trip."
West Coast teams made the most of the IRA's first trip West in the event's history, with Pacific-10 Conference boats sweeping the top three spots in the men's varsity eight race for the first time.
Washington (5:50.91) led Cal (5:51.80) and Stanford (5:56.45) across the line, ahead of eastern powers Brown (5:58.73), Harvard (6:01.64) and Boston University (6:02.68) in the 2,000-meter race in front of an estimated 4,000 spectators on a warm, breezy day.
"It shows the standard of what we have," Cal coach Mike Teti said. "Things do run in cycles, because a few years ago East Coast crews were really dominant. Right now, West Coast (teams) are operating on all cylinders."
Cal had beaten Washington in two of three previous men's varsity eight races this season. So the Huskies tried to put the Bears out of their minds Saturday.
"Racing Cal so many times, we've tried different race plans," Washington's Taylor said. "We made it a lot more internal, focused on what we could do. If they went out fast, it didn't matter."
Cal battled Stanford for control early in the race before the Huskies delivered their closing knockout while racing into a cross headwind.
"About 250 (meters left), I saw we were coming about even," Callahan said. "It looked like we had more push."
Cal's Teti said his team performed well.
"They executed the race plan," he said. "They moved when they needed to move. They did everything I asked of them. I'm really proud of these guys."
Cal finished second in the overall team standings, its 178 points 20 behind Washington and four ahead of Brown.
Wisconsin completed an undefeated season by winning the women's lightweight eight title in 6:56:26, with Bucknell (7:07.71) edging Stanford (7:07.93) for second.
"It feels awesome," said Badgers senior Margot Schoellkopf, who cited intense competition to earn a spot in the boat helping produce the championship.
"It shows how hard our whole team worked. It was really tough to make it in the boat."
Call The Bee's John Schumacher, (916) 326-5523.
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