UW claims 22nd IRA national championship in rowing

Golf River, Calif. — The University of Washington Huskies men’s varsity eight rowing team won the IRA National Championship Sunday afternoon with a comeback victory that took a full team effort. According to a release from UW athletics, this is the 22nd National Championship in program history and the 10th under Huskies Head Coach Michael Callahan. 

“That’s as good as it gets,” said Callahan. “I don’t know if I’ve ever coached a faster boat or a more cohesive crew. When you’re a coach, you want to see your guys put it all together in the biggest moments and that’s what they did.” 

As reported by Regatta Timing, a site that tracked the IRA Championship, during the final events, the UW Richards team took first with a time of 5:44.335 to beat Harvard by 0.683 and the UW Tasker team took first with a time of 5:37.493 to beat California by 1.059. The UW Martin team took second with a time of 5:43.612 and the UW Bosnes team took fourth with a time of 6:32.250.

“This win brought me a lot of joy,” said Callahan. “There are a lot of seniors in that crew, and they’ve put in a lot of work. They have the intangibles and they’ve won a lot of very close races. I told them (Saturday) night I’m sad I won’t be able to watch them row anymore.” 

In the National championship varsity eight final, UW, Princeton and Harvard were all within a deck length of one another at 500 meters, with California in sixth at that marker. By 1000 meters, Harvard and Princeton were no more than a seat back from the Huskies with the Bears moving into fourth and gaining on the leaders.  

By 1500 meters, California had moved to the front of the pack by over a one second lead with just 500 meters to go. The Golden Bears held the advantage until the final 100 meters of the race when the Huskies clawed back to cross the finish line by two seats and 1.059 seconds to earn the Varsity Challenge Cup and national title for the third year in a row. 

“This was such a close field,” Callahan said. “The Class of 2026, at a bunch of universities, was very deep and had a lot of experience over the last four years. Everyone seemed to be at a four-year peak.” 

With the 2026 championship victory, only Cornell, with 26 IRA championships, has won more than Washington. The Huskies also earned the James Ten Eyck Memorial Trophy for most overall points with 284 to beat Princeton’s 272.  

The UW men’s program has already announced its intention to participate in the Henley Royal Regatta this summer in England. Details for that will come at a later date.