Elite effort

LIDO CHANNEL - Orange Coast College’s men’s and women’s crew turned

in sparkling efforts on a perfect day over the 21/2 mile-course Sunday at

the Newport Autumn Rowing Festival.

Coast’s men were fourth in the open eights with a 15:06 clocking

behind California (14:23), Stanford (14:52) and UC Davis (14:54). The

Pirates’ “B” boat was 14th in 15:41 in a field of 24.

In the OCC “A” boat were Matt Hietbrink, Chris Kolstad, Dan Toth,

Brian Scheele, Brett Winfield, Scriv Hoppe, Lucas Ridinger, Ryan Davidson

at stroke and coxswain Sam Yost.

“All five of our men’s eights did very well,” said OCC Coach Dave

Grant. “We’re getting stronger and stronger and this meet was very

encouraging.”

Coast’s “A” boat was third in the novice/freshman eights, crossing the

finish line behind two University of California entries. Posting a time

of 16:31 was the OCC combination of Mike Kreuger in the bow, Mathew

Sutton, Chris Bonnaud, Steve Wukawitz, Joey Finamore, Andret Goroch,

Chris Pope, Brian Sweet at stroke and coxswain Raylin Willis.

Linda Moeller watched her women’s crew finish fifth in the open eights

behind USC, Stanford and UC Santa Barbara, leaving crews from Loyola,

University of San Diego, Long Beach State, UCI, Chapman, San Diego State,

UC San Deigo and UCLA in their wake.

In the OCC boat were Megan Nichols, Lara Fraser, Taryn Andrade, Lot

Keijzer, Malin Gustavsson, Christie Koss, Brooke Albiston, Kellie Wilder

and coxswain Jenna JuBois.

“All the women at Coast have worked very hard the last three months,

many having never rowed before,” said Moeller. “It is exciting to see

that hard work pays off for the athletes on race day.”

The Newport Aquatic Center’s junior crew team raced a total of seven

eights, three fours, a double and two singles.

Taking the gold were the women’s varsity eight (Anne Kircher, Emily

Koestner, Ariel Jacobs, Hilary Ellis, Chrissy Chamberlain, Devon McCalla,

Desiree Taormina and Kate Mead with coxswain Robyn Bissonette, coached by

Greg Parker), winning with a solid 48-second margin.

The men’s novice “A” eight (Elliot Thacker, Matt Siemonson, Greg

Somers, Brandon Dillman, Brian Hochwald, Marshall Minoque, Cole St. Clair

and Brian Booth, coxed by Sean Childs and coached by Rachel Rose) was a

winner.

Also winning were the women’s novice “A” eight (Jesse Ethell, Natali

Ekker-Stacey, Megan Curry, Alisia Ford, Kirsten Contino, Olivia St.

Clair, Jean Geddes and Emily McKay, with coxswain Lauren Lorman and

coached by Christyi Shaver, and the women’s varsity “A” four (Lindsay

Hurban, Lindsey Serrins, Julia Hernandez and Karissa Rode, coxed by

Harmony Davis and coached by Parker).

The men’s varsity four (Drew Curiel, Scott Kircher, Josh Ludmir and

John Zieser, with coxswain Nick Troop and coached by Louis Bronstein)

finished second only to Long Beach’s national-winning team.