U.S. men and women's teams dominate championship eights

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- The U.S. national rowing teams dominated the marquee events at the Head of the Charles Regatta on Sunday, winning the championship eights.

U.S. Rowing's eight-man crew posted the second-fastest time -- 14 minutes, 3.71 seconds -- in the event's 43-year history, to beat Wisconsin by 26.3 seconds and fall 4 seconds short of breaking its own record, set in 1997.

The women's national team finished in a course-record 15:26.57 to win its third consecutive title, defeating Canada's national team, the London Training Center, by 13 seconds.

An estimated 174,000 spectators watched the race -- billed as "the world's largest two-day rowing event" -- from the banks and bridges along the Charles River.

More than 8,200 rowers from 17 countries and 39 states navigated mostly flat waters along the 3-mile course.

Temperatures were in 70s for most of the day, with sunny, clear conditions more typical of June than late October abetting the large crowds and fast finishes.

In the men's collegiate eights, Trinity College of Hartford, Conn., held off Wesleyan University of Middletown, Conn., and 40 other competitors.

China's Peking University finished 20th in the event, a finish more notable for what didn't happen than what did.

In the university's debut in 2006, Peking's eight-man vessel collided with another boat, took on water and sank under the Elliot Bridge as crew members swam to safety or boarded rescue boats. Seven of the rowers from that team returned this year.

Trinity defeated Canada's Trent University to capture the women's collegiate eights.

U.S. Rowing took the top two spots in the four-scull men's championship. The Pennsylvania Athletic Club, Harvard, Stanford and Cornell took third through sixth, respectively.

In the women's championship fours, the London Training Center captured its first title since winning the event for three consecutive years from 2002-04.