Instead, two members of the Cal women’s crew team will compete at a different international competition.

Sophomores Rosie Popa and Agatha Nowinski were named to the U.S. Under 23 National Team on Thursday, honors that will take them to Trakai, Lithuania from July 11-15 for the World Rowing Under 23 Championships.

“I’m really proud of Aggie and Rosie,” said Cal coach Dave O’Neill. “Racing at U23s has been a goal for both of them, and it’s great to see them make it happen.”

A year after winning the quad sculls in the B final at last year’s championship, Popa returns to take part in the women’s pair. Recent Cal graduate Kristina Lofman competed in pairs last year, finishing fifth as a member of Norway’s team.

Nowinski takes over Popa’s event from last year: quad sculls. An All-Pac 12 selection this year, Nowinski is taking part in her first Under 23 Championship.

Both Popa and Nowinski were members of Cal’s varsity eight last year, which finished fifth at this year’s NCAA Championships. The Bears finished third overall at NCAAs.

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This was the second year in a row that Cal entered the NCAA Championships as the No. 1 team in the nation, only to earn an upsetting third place finish.

“I think in order for us to have won they would have had to row above and beyond what they had been doing,” said Cal coach Dave O’Neill. “They rowed within themselves but we just came up a little bit short.”

The Bears have now finished second or third overall at NCAAs for five years in a row. Since winning the national championship in 2006, Cal hasn’t been able to repeat despite several close finishes. The Bears finished second overall in 2009 and 2010.

Despite this year’s third place overall finish, Cal was one of only three teams to advance all three boats to the grand finals. In the Division I Grand Finals, Cal’s varsity eight came in fifth place, while both the varsity four and second varsity eight each earned themselves spots on the podium with a third place finish.

“So many women stepped up to turn themselves into really fit, really mature, and really good racers,” O’Neill said. “So in terms of where we started off and certainly where we were back in early March to where we finished up, I’m really, really proud of this team.”

In the varsity eight grand final — the race with the most points at stake — Cal finished with a time of 6:27.19. On the first day of NCAAs, Cal finished the varsity eight preliminary race with a time of 6:52.19.

Their time improvement is notable for the young squad, which boasted six sophomores in the varsity eight boat lineup and only four seniors in a squad of over 60 women.

In the second varsity eight grand final, Cal took the podium third place finish with a time of 6:40.85, losing to first-place Michigan by three seconds. In the varsity four grand final, the Bears took another third place finish with a time of 7:21.15. This race marked the first time in the 2012 crew season that the Cal varsity four did not win.

“So many of the women turned into really good leaders and so many of them are going to be coming back next year, hopefully fitter, stronger and more mature,” O’Neill said. “Things look bright for the years ahead.”

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“I’m really proud of the way our team raced today,” Cal coach Dave O’Neill said. “Unfortunately, we came up just short of the overall win, but we gave it everything we had and that’s all you can ask for as a coach.”

The competition at the Grand Finals in Lake Natoma, Calif., including the likes of Princeton and USC as well, which rounded out the top five tied at 72 points.

The Bears’ varsity 4+ boat won their first race on Friday and emerged victorious in each of the following races — most notably, its grand final against Virginia. Despite trailing early, the Bears pushed on to a two second advantage and rowed across the line at 7:09.60.

“The Flying Bear four was great once again today,” O’Neill said. “The lineup has changed throughout the season, credit goes to all who contributed to the undefeated season.”

After mediocre performances by the varsity 8+ boat in the heat and semifinals, Cal battled to come away with a fourth place finish in the grand final for the second year in a row. The Bears placed ahead of Brown and the Cardinal in the second position for the first three splits, but as the boats approached the final mark, Cal couldn’t edge forward for the win — eventually clocking in at 6:30.6

“With so much on the line for the team title, watching that race was not for the faint of heart,” O’Neill said. “I’m really proud of the way they stepped up to every challenge this weekend, and it was great to see them on the podium.”

The Bears, who last attained the national title back in 2006, have now secured a top three finish for their fourth consecutive season. They have not placed outside of the top-four since 1998.

“There’s no disappointment whatsoever in coming in third because we truly did everything we could,” O’Neill said.

Camellia Senemar covers crew.

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The Cal women emerged victorious in three races out of four, securing their fourth straight Pac-10 title. The Bears saw competition from Stanford, USC, Washington, Washington State, UCLA, and Oregon.

“We knew we were going to be there, both Stanford and USC are fantastic crews,” women’s head coach Dave O’Neill said. “We’ve been coming along and doing pretty well.”

The women’s varsity 8+ final proved to be an exciting encounter, as the Bears came away with a mere half-second triumph — 7:02.1 to Stanford’s 7:02.6.

“I don’t use the word epic too often, but that was an epic race,” O’Neill said. “We’re not the biggest crew out there, but they definitely showed they’ve got a lot of heart and a lot of fight in them.”

Cal also pulled out the win in the varsity 4+ event. The team had a two-second advantage ahead of USC midway through the race, but even when Washington surpassed USC, the Bears stayed in front. They finished four seconds ahead of the competition with a time of 7:14.6 to Washington’s 7:18.7. The second varsity 8+ boat clinched second place in their race, adding to the Bears’ overall team tally of 43.5 points. Stanford was in second place with 34 points.

The windy and rainy weather near Sacramento wasn’t ideal for either squad, but the conditions seemed to trouble the Cal men more as they placed second in three of their four races.

“We knew that the water was going to get a little rough at times, but I’m still proud of our efforts,” junior Rob Poole said.

The Bears scored 65 total points to remain close to Washington’s final sum of 70 points. However, the Huskies held their dominance in the three races where Cal sputtered. Washington did not trail in the varsity 8+ race, and even with Cal’s extra push at the first 500-meter split, the race ended 5:39.9-5:58.2 in favor of the Huskies.

It was the same story for the other two varsity boats. The 4+ finished with a time of 6:29.6 – a large gap from Washington’s winning time of 6:49.4 – while the second varsity 8+ boat had a more respectable margin at 5:41.5-5:52.3.

“It was difficult and we weren’t entirely happy with the way things turned out,” Poole said. “But we still have a few more races in us until the season ends.”

Following a week off, the women compete at the IRA Championships in New Jersey while the men head back to Lake Natoma for the NCAA Championships in two weeks.

Camellia Senemar covers crew.

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