At Sunday's NCAA Women's Rowing Championship, Cal women's crew simply couldn't pull off a win.

Despite going into the competition with a Pac-10 team title from two weeks ago and a No. 1 ranking in the varsity eight, the Bears failed to achieve their goal of nabbing the team title as they were topped by defending team champions Brown and Washington.

Cal took third with 53 points behind the Brown Bears' 67 and the Huskies' 59. Yale and Virginia rounded out the top five. Strong performances in each event are imperative to win the overall points trophy, but unfortunately for the Bears, the day did not go in their favor.

"We knew the competition would be really tight and we'd have to be firing on all cylinders," coach Dave O'Neill said.

The day started out with a fourth-place finish for Cal's varsity four. The boat took second at the Pac-10 Championships, but was unable to find the speed necessary to win the title. The Bears posted a time of 7:33.10 behind first-place Washington's 7:24.75, the Cavalier's 7:26.09, and Brown's 7:29.77. They were followed by Michigan State and the Bulldogs.

Cal's second varsity could not find success either, taking last in the grand final with a time of 6:52.15 for a sixth-place finish.

Brown won the event in 6:42.2, Ohio State took second in 6:44.87, the Huskies (whom the Bears defeated at Pac-10's by 4.6 seconds) took third in 6:48.1, followed by Virginia's 6:49.88 and fifth-place Tennessee's 6:51.6.

"We got beat out on the second varsity race, which put us behind (for the points trophy)," said O'Neill. "But I'm really proud of what they did for us all year long."

In perhaps the most exciting race of the day, Cal's No. 1 varsity eight failed to live up to their ranking, taking fourth in a race that was determined by mere feet from start to finish.

The crews were separated by barely two seconds at the 500-meter mark, and all boats were in contention for the win through the last meters of the race. Defending varsity eight champions Yale triumphed again with a time of 6:34.0 after edging out an at-large Stanford boat that lead almost through the finish line, but took second in 6:34.9.

Eastern Sprints champions Brown placed third with a time of 6:35.2, followed by Cal's 6:36.2, then Washington in 6:28.2 and Michigan State in 6:40.2.

"In the varsity eight, we knew that Yale and Brown were real fast, and Stanford being up there was no surprise to me," said O'Neill. "We raced well, but simply got beat by better crews."

Despite not having won a single event and failing to win the team title, the women still appeared proud of their efforts.

"It was a very positive thing because we did everything we could," senior co-captain Mara Allen said. "We got the best out of who we are, and I think that is what every team is going for."

Tags: NCAA WOMEN'S ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS