HENLEY, England -- The Washington men's four went wire-to-wire for the second straight day, defeating the Henley Rowing Club Thursday during the round of 16 at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta on the Thames River.
The Britannia Challenge Cup field has been pared to eight boats after starting with 32 crews of fours with coxswains. The competition continues for three more days, culminating in Sunday's championship race.
Washington maintained the lead throughout the one-mile, 550-yard (2,112 meter) course and held off the local Henley crew for a one-seat victory. The Huskies clocked a winning time of 7-minutes, 15-seconds. That was 15 seconds faster than the mark of 7:30 they posted in Wednesday's opening round during their two-boat-length victory over the Agecroft Rowing Club. Only the winner's finishing time is reported in the official regatta results as the losing mark in each race is not recorded.
The Huskies advance to a quarterfinal-round meeting with the Isis Boat Club, Friday afternoon London time (4:10 a.m. Pacific Time). Isis registered a 1/2-length decision over the Bantam Boat Club in its second-round race. The Washington-Isis victor faces the winner of the matchup between the University of London and the Thames Rowing Club.
Washington's four includes coxswain Chris O'Brien along with Scott Gault, John Taylor, Jeff Jorgensen and Mathew Kopicky. Four of those athletes were members of the Huskies' national runner-up junior varsity eight crew. Jeff Jorgensen rowed on UW's national champion varsity four.
The 164th renewal of the regatta that began in 1839 features a unique match-race format with two boats racing side-by-side. The winner advances to the next round while the loser is eliminated. The course is a straight one-mile, 550-yard stretch (2,112 meters) on the Thames River.
The Washington men's varsity eight crew sees its first action Friday in the quarterfinals of the eight-boat Ladies Challenge Plate competition.
The Huskies have a first-round meeting at noon London time (4 a.m. PDT) against a crew made up of rowers from the Nottingham & Union Rowing Club and the London Rowing Club. The winner advances to Saturday's semifinals to meet either the Molesey Boat Club & Imperial College combined entry or the Frankfurter crew from Germany. U.S. collegiate crews Rutgers and Dartmouth meet in the other half of the bracket.
The UW eight won the Pac-10 championship and was the runner-up at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association championships. The crew includes coxswain Ryan Marks along with Ian Sawyer, John Lorton, Marko Petrovic, Brett Newlin, Giuseppe Lanzone, Kyle Larson, Sam Burns and Andy Derrick.
This is the first Henley appearance for the Husky men since 1997 when the varsity eight lost by one foot in the championship race to the Notts County & Oxford Brookes crew that served as the British National lightweight eight.