Rowing News Men’s Top 20 Initial Rankings

The Golden Bears of the University of California, Berkeley enter the 2026 racing season ranked #1, followed by two-time defending national champions Washington, national runner-up Harvard, and Dartmouth College, coached by 2025 IRCA National Coach of the Year, Wyatt Allen, in the first national ranking of 2026.

The IRA National Championship Regatta will determine the national champion May 31 on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif. After Cal, who posted the fastest time (5:24) at last year’s IRA in the petite final and has already raced to a 5:26 this year at the Redwood Shores Invitational (March 7) the ranking follows the finishing order of the 2025 national championship. 

#2 Washington and #3 Harvard face off at the recently revived Bolles Cup at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida on Friday, March 27, as part of the Sarasota 2k regatta including #6 Brown, #8 Northeastern, #9 Stanford, and #11 Yale.

Rowing News Men’s Top 20
March 9, 2026

1. California
2. Washington
3. Harvard
4. Dartmouth
5. Princeton
6. Brown
7. Syracuse
8. Northeastern
9. Stanford
10. Pennsylvania
11. Yale
12. Navy
13. Cornell
14. Wisconsin
15. La Salle
16. Columbia
17. Boston University
18. Temple
19. Georgetown
20. Holy Cross

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