UW MEN’S CREW COACH Michael Callahan, ’96, has a message for the other college rowing powers hoping to stop the Huskies from repeating as national champions: Steer clear.

The Huskies, winners of five straight team titles at the prestigious Intercollegiate Rowing Association championships, set their sights on winning more gold at this year’s event May 31–June 2 on Cooper River in Cherry Hill, N.J.

“We have a strong class of 2012 that future classes are going to be measured against,” says Callahan, whose Huskies also will be seeking a remarkable fourth Varsity Eight title in the past six years at IRA.

“They will be compared with some of the other great classes here.” Men’s 2012 crew may be one of best in Husky history Last year, the Huskies grabbed gold in four of five heavyweight IRA events to capture the Jim “Ten” Eyck Trophy, which is awarded to the team that accumulates the most overall points. This time around, Callahan—who rowed for legendary UW coach Bob Ernst, ’79, from 1992-96 before returning as coach in 2007—has his team aiming for an improbable, but not impossible, clean sweep of the main events.

To achieve that feat, members of the Varsity Eight (which lost five key members of the squad that won the 2011 title), Second Varsity Eight, Freshman Eight, Open Four and Varsity Four will need to be at their best to fend off expected challengers Harvard, Cal, Brown, Princeton and Wisconsin.—Scott Kline