BIG ROW (M)

The #9 Men were predicted to be 4.9 seconds behind #1 Cal, and they were true to form, and even slightly better, losing by only 4.3. In cMax Stanford is actually already #6 in the nation, so this is a very good result. They fought the Golden Bears hard to the end, had minimal open water compared to other teams Cal has beaten, and even gained some ground in the final 500, which is rare at Redwood Shores. The final margin was even more encouraging against the national champion who lost no athletes to graduation and even gained an elite Brown grad transfer. We can all be very proud of their effort and you can read the goStanford writeup here where Coach Ted Sobolewski was also very upbeat.

The Men's 2V8 struggled a bit, but fought to the end. Ted mentioned a re-tuning of the lineup that probably didn't quite have its full chemistry yet, and in the live stream it was clear that there were some steering issues, with Stanford's hull at one point being fully in Cal's lane. They probably rowed 20-30 more meters than Cal simply due to steering. We know there is definite improvement potential here for PAC-12s.