Redwood City, Calif. - The Boston University men's rowing team opened its Spring season over the weekend against two of the top rowing programs on the West Coast, defeating No. 12 ranked Stanford on Friday before falling to No. 2 ranked California on Saturday.

The No. 8 ranked BU varsity eight boat, coxed by senior Lauren Harvey and stroked by junior Vassilis Ragoussis, defeated the No. 12 ranked Cardinal on Friday by over 2 lengths, finishing with a time of 6:01.70, well ahead of Stanford's time of 6:09.46.

The second varsity eight race followed the V8 with much the same result. The 2V, coxed by sophomore Carly Skehan and stroked by senior Gregor Dierks, finished ahead of the Cardinal with a time of 6:15.72. Stanford's 2V finished with a time of 6:23.81.

The Terriers were right back at it on Saturday when they faced the No. 2 ranked California Golden Bears who were coming off a big victory in last weekend's San Diego Crew Classic. With the same lineups, the Terriers' second varsity eight boat raced first and fell behind by a length in the first 500 meters and couldn't recover. Cal finished the course in 5:44.2 with the Terriers coming in at 5:56.9.

The varsity eight boat was next and also fell behind early and was unable to pick up ground as Cal. pulled away for an open water victory. Cal's V8 time was 5:34.9 while the Terriers finished at 5:49.8.

After a long winter that saw the Charles River frozen until late March, the trip out west was a welcome change for the team.

"It was a great opportunity for us to come to the west coast and race against Cal and Stanford," said head men's rowing coach Tom Bohrer after the race. "I thought we raced well against Stanford and it felt good to get a race under our belts. We knew that we would have our hands full with Cal. They were extremely sharp with their blade work and raced extremely hard. I think they are best team in the division".

"We did not have poor race against Cal, they are just really good," added Bohrer. "We learned a lot from our racing here. The team is positive and all our focus now is for this coming week against Northeastern."

The Terriers will now return home and jump right into the cup series portion of their schedule. The fun begins on April 11th when BU takes on arch rival Northeastern for the coveted Arlett Cup.

Friday's Results vs. Stanford

Race 1 -- Varsity Eight

1. Boston University -- 6:01.70

2. Stanford -- 6:09.46

Race 2 -- Second Varsity Eight

1. Boston University -- 6:15.72

2. Stanford -- 6:23.81

Saturday's Results vs. California

Race 1 -- Second Varsity Eight

1. California -- 5:44.2

2. Boston University -- 5:56.9

Race 2 -- Varsity Eight

1. California -- 5:34.9

2. Boston University -- 5:49.8

WEEKEND LINEUPS

First varsity C: Lauren Harvey, 8: Vassilis Ragoussis, 7: Fionnan McQuillan-Tolan, 6: Aleksandar Marinkovski, 5: Luka Miladinovic, 4: Kep Edwards, 3: Mackenzie Copp, 2: JP Aftring, B: Oliver Salonna

Second Varsity C: Carly Skehan, 8: Gregor Dierks, 7: John Carter, 6: Alex Dillon, 5: Spencer Haas, 4: Matt Maginnis, 3: Tomas Weaver, 2: Mike Kapp, B: Jamie Odgers