The University of Victoria Vikes women's rowing program narrowly captured its third consecutive Canadian universities title Sunday at Burnaby Lake and 11th in total.
UVic finished with 101 points, UBC 99 and Western Ontario 98.
"I think it was one of the closest three-way races ever," said UVic head coach Rick Crawley. "We've had a lot of close match-ups but this was on a different level."
Vikes highlights included the gold medals won by the eight, with an impressive lead over runner-up Queen's, and the victorious lightweight double of Stefanie Miklosovic and Rachel Dennis.
"I think I'm more relieved than anything. It really came down to the wire," said Crawley. "I'm very pleased with the girls. The eights were pretty dominant. They led from the start and won by almost three seconds."
The UVic men were edged by Brock into second place in the men's Canadian university championship team standings by just one point (101-100). UVic, which last won in 2010, was denied its sixth national title.
Vikes highlights included gold in the lightweight double with Alex Walker and Lee Hall. The Walker-Hall duo then teamed with Brendan Downey and Jonathan Chandler to win silver in the lightweight four behind Queen's.
The UVic heavyweight double of Connor McGuigan and Will O'Connell captured silver behind Brock.
"I'm very proud of the men as everybody stepped it up today," said UVic head coach Howie Campbell.
"This solid team performance is a huge step forward from last year's disappointing third-place finish and it shows that our talent development program is moving us forward very quickly."
