The Longhorns' winning streak came to an end Saturday as the Golden Bears of California swept Texas in all four races, despite the first varsity eight boat recording its best time of the year.
Cal's top boat bested the Longhorns with a time of 6 minutes, 20 seconds - 18 seconds faster than the 'Horns' time of 6:38.2. Texas' time marked a 10-second improvement over last week's race against SMU, thanks to a tailwind.
"We had a really solid race," freshman Jennifer VanderMaarel said. "We knew going into the race that Cal was going to be good since they're ranked number one. So we just wanted to focus on our own boat."
The second varsity eight boat lost 6:51.9 to 6:33.5 while the first varsity four boat clocked in 27 seconds behind at 7:52.8 compared to Cal's 7:25.2. The first novice eight boats provided the closest race of the day, but Cal squeaked out a 6:53.9 to 6:49.1 victory.
Despite being swept, head coach Carie Graves drew on the positives and put things in perspective.
"It's not fun to lose by the margins we did today, but we saw improvement in our boats," Graves said. "Today's competition gave us the opportunity to host and race against one of the most powerful teams in the country. In order to be the best, you have to compete against the best. This was a great measuring stick for us."
The Longhorns are now preparing for next weekend's regatta in Boston, which consists of some of the nation's elite programs.
"As competitors, you always learn the most from your losses or setbacks," Graves said. "Those lessons will help us get better and prepare us for next week's competition in Boston where we will race against more quality programs."
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