Purity found in heart and soul of women’s crew

Steve Virgen

NEWPORT BEACH - Friday, for most, is a day of elation. But for the

Orange Coast College women’s crew, Friday is just another day when

perfection meets bravery, beauty dances with power and testing the limits

becomes an art form.

These women welcomed a laid-back sportswriter to witness their

training session. And I will never be the same.

Coach Linda Moeller, who began the program at OCC in 1993, calls crew,

or rowing, “the ultimate team sport.”

In this age of pros complaining about contracts, athletes linked with

crime and teammates fighting for the spotlight, purity can be found with

eight women and a coxswain. The ultimate team sport, indeed, as the power

of unison serves as requirement for success.

“(Crew) teaches each rower discipline, to themselves and for each

other,” Moeller says. “It teaches them focus. They become goal-setters.

Everything they learn here is transferable into life. It’s a good dress

rehearsal for life.”

With all the training and dedication, crew is life for these women.

“You have to be willing to sell your soul,” Jessica Griffin said.

“It’s 24 hours a day.”

Griffin is a sophomore who has earned a scholarship to attend San

Diego State in the fall. Jenna Dubois, OCC’s coxswain and varsity crew

captain, also received a scholarship. At Sacramento State, Dubois will

join Veronica Karpinski, who competed for Coast last year.

The Pirates, you see, can boast that they are the only community

college in the country with crew. The OCC varsity and novice teams

compete against four-year universities.

Dubois and Griffin go up against seniors of Stanford, San Diego State

and Long Beach State.

So the sacrifice does come with reward, but not only for future

success. The work results in a discovery: Invincibility is attainable,

though it lasts for a 2,000-meter race.

“It takes a lot of heart and a lot of soul,” said Candice Collings,

OCC’s novice captain.

Since the fall, Moeller has been teaching technique and the ladies

also focus on fitness training.

They row six days a week, practice on an ergometer machine (rowing

simulator), strengthen their toned bodies with weight training two days a

week at 6 a.m. and run for at least an hour.

Sweden native Malin Gustavsson, a 6-foot-1 sophomore who could easily

be mistaken for a swimsuit model, absolutely loves the sport and all of

its demands.

“I’m addicted to it,” said Gustavsson, who has earned a scholarship to

Loyola Marymount. “I came here to study and I was asked to try out rowing

because it would be a good sport for me because I am so tall. I tried it

out and I love it. It’s so much fun that I just need to do it. It’s a

real good workout.”

She says all of this after rowing for nearly two hours, including more

than 6,000 meters. That Friday, she pushed her body to the limit, as did

her teammates.

Griffin winced in pain, but continued to stroke. The coxswain, Dubois,

with brows curled, yelled out instructions, directing the pace of the

relentless eight.

Michele Hensley is on a different boat and she is glowing amid wind

and cold. You think she will stop as the look in her eyes shows the sign

of quit, but her body thumps on as if Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” is

blaring in her ear.

This is how they get ready for the season.

This is how they get ready for life.