REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.-At 8:50 a.m., just minutes before the Cal men's crew was to take on Stanford on Saturday, a group of roughly 30 neon-clad people descended upon the usually tranquil viewing area with a barrage of eclectic and overbearing noise.

So was the Stanford band's unusual appearance at the Big Row-marking the beginning of a not-so-ordinary day at the lagoon.

The No. 9 Cardinal was able to defy history and beat the No. 6 ranked Bears for the first time in 17 years at the annual duel. For Cal, this is an unheard of fourth consecutive loss in varsity eight competition.

"We hit rock bottom today and the only way from here is up. They definitely didn't win this race today; we just lost it," sophomore Benedict Tufnell said.

Stanford, however, has shown its mettle in the recent past.

Last year, the Cardinal tied Harvard for second place at the IRA Grand Final and at this year's San Diego Crew classic, they finished two tenths of a second behind the Bears.

This time they finished just a second ahead of Cal.

The Bears' trailed for most of the race but began to gain significant ground on the Cardinal, closing a small open water gap with about 500 meters to go. At that point, it appeared Cal might have had enough speed to overtake Stanford's boat. But in the end, the run came too late as the Bears fell just short, finishing 5:42.52-5:43.39.

"Cal has that explosive speed, they just need to retain it. It's like a pitcher who throws 95 mph. You show it, then you have it," Cardinal coach Craig Amerkhanian said. "Steve (Gladstone) has to take responsibility for Stanford's boat speed because he has had a tremendous influence on how I coach and teach."

Amerkhanian rowed under Gladstone during his time at Cal and was a part of Gladstone's first Pac 10 championship in 1979. Amerkhanian also served as the Cal frosh coach for nine years guiding them to two national and six conference championships in the 1990s.

The respect between the two coaches is unparalleled. Before the race was even over, Gladstone turned to his Stanford counterpart and shook his hand.

"It was a good race. Stanford is a fast crew. We took a step forward today-just look at the times," Gladstone said. "This time each guy was trying to do it by himself. But to go really fast, we need to do it together."

Although Gladstone didn't rule out the possibility of a line-up change, he seemed confident that he has found a "core group" of guys. The Bears will now have two weeks to focus their energies on the Pac-10 championships. Regardless of who is in the varsity eight at the Pac-10s, Cal believes that they still have what it takes.

"It's times like these that are very testing and it's hard to continue to push forward. We're going to put this one behind us and move on to the next thing," Tufnell said. "We still believe."

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