No. 1 Washington Fights Off No. 2 Cal At The Dual

Saturday, April 25

Redwood City, Calif.

9:00 AM

University of Washington

The Dual – California – Schoch Cup

The University of Washington men’s rowing team holds the Schoch Cup after beating California on April 25, 2026

Photo by: Scott Eklund / Red Box Pictures

April 25, 2026 | Men's Rowing

Results Video Replay

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – The No. 1-ranked Washington men's varsity eight crew held off its biggest rival – No. 2 California – Saturday at The Dual, earning the Schoch Cup in a thrilling race at Redwood Shores.

The defending national champion Huskies, who won the same race last year in Seattle, but finished second to Cal in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships, fought tooth and nail with the Golden Bears in the last race of the morning, fending off each threat to take the Cup by 1.4 seconds, about a half of a boat length.

The Huskies also won the second varsity eight race, while Cal won the third and fourth varsity eights, as well as the freshman eights. The regatta also included the Stanford women taking on Texas, and the Stanford lightweight women facing Boston University.

"It was an exciting atmosphere at Redwood Shores today and it seemed like the epicenter of college rowing world with the No. 1 and 2 men's programs racing and the No. 1 and 2 women's programs racing," said head coach Michael Callahan.

"We really appreciate the strong turnout by the Husky faithful. We've never had so many alumni, family and friends here to support the race at Redwood Shores. It certainly was uplifting for our guys in the last 500 meters," Callahan added. "This isn't our home water, but they made it feel that way."

The Dual between Washington vs. California, an event that dates to 1903, is the biggest men's rowing rivalry in the west. The victory was the Huskies' 79^th in 114 meetings. The Schoch Cup is named after Delos "Dutch" Schoch of Washington's class of 1936 (Schoch was the alternate for the famed "Boys In The Boat").

In the finale, Cal led the race in the very early going, but Washington had caught up by the 500-meter mark. From there, the Huskies never trailed, while never leading by much more than a half a length.

In a fiery sprint from both crews, Washington crossed the line in 5:37.2, while Cal's final time was 5:38.6.

The University of Washington men's rowing team compete in The Dual against Cal on April 25, 2026. (Photography by Photo by Scott Eklund/NBAE )

Washington also won the second varsity eights race, in which the Huskies grabbed an early lead and rowed well in front of the Bears for the full 2,000 meters. The Husky 2V8+ won its race by nearly a full boat-length, in 5:48.4, three second ahead of the Bears (5.41.4).

Washington's second varsity eight celebrates it win at the finish line vs. California on April 25, 2026

"We had almost perfectly executed races in the 1V and 2V," Callahan said. "I'm really excited how the those boats performed. California certainly pushed us all the way through the day and we know it's going be a really close battle when we meet again in Sacramento for the conference championships."

The third varsity eights race went down to the wire and was the closest finish of the day. The two crews were neck-and-neck throughout the race, but the Golden Bears pushed their bow ball past the finish line three-tenths of a second in front of UW, 5:48.4 to 5:48.7.

Cal's freshman eight grabbed the early lead and rowed to a comfortable win over the Washington freshmen. The Bears completed their race with a time of 5:56.0.

The morning opened with the fourth varsity eights race, where California took the lead from the start. Washington kept contact with its rival for most of the 2,000 meters, but the Bears pulled away slightly in the final 250 meters to win in 5:57.2. Washington's fourth varsity eight crossed the line in 6:01.1.

"Our students put a lot into this all year long and it's wonderful to have an opponent that brings the best out of our boats and ourselves as coaches," Callahan noted. "We're certainly proud of the effort they put out on the water today. We worked really hard being internal the last couple weeks, making sure we didn't get distracted outside our gunwales."

Next weekend, Washington hosts the 40^th Windermere Cup and Opening Day Regatta on Montlake Cut. The Husky men will take on the National Team from Great Britain and Northeastern, while the Washington women will race the Brits and the Canadian National Team in the Windermere Cup race.

"It's certainly not going to get any easier taking on the Olympic champions and Northeastern next week on the Montlake Cut," Callahan said. "I'm excited to see everyone packing the Cut and filling the log boom, and to show all the speed the Huskies have in front of our home crowd."