The UW men’s and women’s crew will look to boost their impressive résumés for postseason racing this weekend at the Pac-10 championships.

Taking place on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif., where the temperature is predicted to be more than 100 degrees both days, the Huskies will face off against heated competition from crews in arguably the best conference in the nation. Of the eight schools in the Pac-10 that sponsor rowing, three are ranked on the men’s side and six on the women’s.

The UW men are currently ranked No. 2 in the nation and come into the weekend riding a streak of impressive victories. Men’s varsity five-seat Rob Gibson talked about the team’s recent success following the Windermere Cup two weeks ago.

“We’ve really come together the last couple of weeks,” he said. “We’ve really started trusting each other and having more fun out there.”

The men have faced a lot of these crews before, including California, which beat the Huskies back in early April but lost to the Dawgs three weeks ago as the No. 1 team in the nation.

“We just need to keep working hard,” varsity stroke Will Cothers said following the Windermere Cup. “The biggest thing for us is execution and having confidence in what we can do. We just have to hope that the tide keeps turning our way.”

On the women’s side, the No. 9 Huskies will have to wade through a loaded field that includes the top two teams in the nation: Stanford and California, respectively.

The women have seen mixed results against the teams of the Pac-10 thus far, having fallen to the Golden Bears at home, but sweeping No. 13 Washington State in Pullman. Women’s head coach Bob Ernst knows that in order to win, the Huskies are going to have to focus on themselves and put together some smart races.

“The first objective is just to get into the final and then row our best race,” he said. “Not react to them, just try to go as fast as we can.”

With the women’s NCAA championship only selecting 16 teams to compete in two weeks, Ernst knows that this weekend is especially important for his team, and he’s excited about the competition.

“This is going to be intense racing,” Ernst said. “There are five or six teams here that are really good.”

Reach reporter Scott Eisen at sports@dailyuw.com.