Stanford men’s crew enters the final leg of its season this weekend, facing its season-long top rivals No. 1 Washington and No. 3 California at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships this Sunday.

“This is it — this is the big race,” said senior Donny Simkin, a member of the men’s varsity eight. “There’s no race after this race, as far as we’re concerned right now. We’ve been working toward this all season; May 13 has been the date all along, and we’ve been focused on it. We’re understandably excited.”

Stanford rowing has developed quickly over the past few years, and after taking second in the varsity eight and third in the second varsity eight last year, this weekend could finally give it the Pac-10 Championship.

California snatched gold from last year’s Cardinal varsity eight. The cross-bay rivals have again proven a challenge for Stanford in this season, defeating the Cardinal in a second straight Big Row on Apr. 21. Then-No.4 Stanford faltered against then-No. 2 Cal, and didn’t win any of its races.

The men’s varsity eight was even with the Cal boat at the 1,100-meter mark (out of 2,000), but the Bears pulled out a win by 3.3 seconds (5:50.3 against 5:53.6) on Stanford’s regular practice course, the Redwood Shores Lagoon.

The men’s second varsity eight and freshman eight also lost, each by margins of six seconds or more.

Stanford did upset the Bears earlier this season, when it hosted the Windermere Classic. At No. 2, the Cardinal then outranked California, and overcame the Bears and No. 8 Wisconsin to advance to the final.

Racing for the Windermere title, Stanford met its greatest challenge of the weekend as well as its greatest challenge this Sunday: top-ranked Washington.

The undefeated Huskies defeated the men’s varsity eight by 6.1 seconds at Windermere and also left the second varsity and novice teams to silver, sweeping all six of their finals among the men’s and women’s events.

With that kind of experience and reputation preceding both Washington and Cal, Simkin acknowledges that this weekend will be full of challenges.

“We know they’re fast,” he said. “Washington is undefeated and they’re dominant. Cal is also very fast.”

A different format will add to the competitive element at the Pac-10 Championships. Rather than the usual dual format, as at the Windermere and Big Row, there will be six lanes for the Pac-10.

“It’s going to require a different strategy with the wide, six-lane race,” Simkin said. “It’s a lot harder to psychologically break a team when they have someone else right next to them that they can look at, race against and eventually catch up with.”

Those prospects have forced the Cardinal to develop a “championship race plan,” according to Simkin, that goes with many intense weeks of practice leading up to the Pac-10.

The No. 3 Bears and No. 1 Huskies are both daunting forces within the conference and nationally, but No. 6 Stanford expects to be right up there with them, regardless of what the coaches in charge of rankings believe.

“We fully expect to be up and down a seat with them,” Simkin said. “We’re confident that this is going to come down to less than half a boat length — it’s going to be a close one.

“We’re confident in ourselves, we’re confident in our speed, but we’re also confident in the speed of our competitors,” he added.

The Pac-10 Championships will also feature No. 18 Oregon State and Washington State, each of which the Cardinal beat two weekends ago in Eugene, Ore.

Nevertheless, Simkin said that on Sunday, “It’s going to be anybody’s race.”

“Undoubtedly, unquestionably, this is the fastest set of Pac-10 teams there has ever been, and the greatest depth there has ever been among all the teams,” he added.

In the end, the Pac-10 title will wind up in the hands of the crew that comes best-prepared for the day’s races, beginning at 8 a.m.

But even on Sunday afternoon, it won’t be the end of the rowing season for many Pac-10 teams. The IRA Regatta is a month away, with Stanford, Cal and Washington all likely to advance and face East-Coast schools such as No. 2 Harvard, No. 4 Yale and No. 5 Brown.

Simkin has high expectations for the Pac-10.

“Whoever wins the Pac-10 is going to win the IRAs,” he said. “Washington and Cal think the same; we’re confident in each other and our speed.”