Crew: USD wins Berg Cup, OCC men’s teams sweep

Steve Virgen

NEWPORT BEACH - Amazing what a loud cheering section can do.

Saturday morning in Lido Channel, the encouraging yells from Orange Coast

College crew members and fans gave that extra push for the men’s varsity

crew when the Pirates won their season-opening 2000-meter race in 6:07.1,

six and one tenth seconds over second-place San Diego State.

“We know that right when we get to the boathouse, everyone is

cheering,” OCC coxswain Sam Yost said. “That’s when we pick (the pace)

up. And we continue that all the way to the finish.”

With about 600 meters remaining after passing the boathouse, the

Pirates maintained their slight lead, rowing to victory as members of the

women’s novice teams and varsity squad and men’s novice teams shouted,

“Go, Coast, go!”

Those same cheers also helped the OCC women’s varsity crew as it

finished third to Berg Cup champion University of San Diego. The Berg

Cup, the biggest race of the day, included two UC Irvine crews, UCLA,

USD, San Diego State and Chapman. The Pirates only race against four-year

schools, because Coast is the only community college in the nation with

rowing teams.

“Everyone is walking away feeling good about the race,” Bucs Coach

Linda Moeller said of her varsity crew.

In the Berg Cup, OCC finished just 3/4 of a boat length behind UCI to

earn 7:03.4 time. USD took an early one-boat length lead over UCI. Coast

trailed UCI by a half-length early and those three crews held their

positions over the course of the race, gradually adding space between the

other three crews.

In another women’s race, the Pirates’ Novice II took an early lead,

but fell behind to USD just before the midway point and dropped into

third by 1,500 meters as UCI joined the leaders’ action. UCI, however,

struggled down the stretch and OCC recovered to finish second behind the

Anteaters.

“This was perfect weather for rowing,” Coast Novice Coach Liz Hubbard

said of the cool, cloudy day.

In the second women’s novice VIII race, the Pirates steadily built a

sizable lead eventually stretching their advantage to five boat lengths

and finishing in 7:35.2.

Aside from the men’s varsity crew victory, the Novice VIII ‘A’ and ‘B’

along with the Junior Varsity VIII grabbed first-place finishes.

“All the crews did well,” OCC men’s Coach Dave Grant said. “We’ve been

training for eight or nine months now, so you better have to have

something to show for that.”

As the Pirates hosted their first Regatta of the season, Grant noted

OCC’s varsity crew could still improve.

“Crews are never perfect till the end of the season,” he said. “And

they better be (perfect).”

Said Yost, “We always need to get better, but we’re not that far from

where we need to be.”

Notes: Crew members tossed each coxswain into the water. Among the

drenched, Kristal Maw, the only female on the men’s crew. She helped the

Novice VIII B to its victory in 6:40.9.

The Berg cup is named after Richard Berg, a resident of Newport Beach,

who “has been a major supporter of (the OCC women’s crews),” Moeller

said. “In recognition, we started the Berg Cup and award the trophy to

the champion,” she said.

CREW RESULTS

Women’s Varsity VIII

Berg Cup

1. USD, 6:56.6; 2. UCI, 7:02.6; 3. OCC, 7:03.4 (Megan Nichols, Sarah

Daum, Jessica Griffin, Christina Koss, Malin Gustavsson, Nikki Koning,

Brooke Albiston, Lot Keijzer, Jenna Du Bois).

Women’s Novice VIII A - UCI, 7:08.6; 2. OCC (Jennifer Vigneault,

Candice Collings, Tawny Harris, Amber Excell, Eve Van der Tak, Kathleen

Machado, Joanna Scavo, Michele Hensley, Colby Dyer) 7:10.7; 3. USD,

7:12.7.

Women’s Novice VII B - OCC (Marloes Van der Meer, Maria Tjellesen,

Colleen Purdy, Emily Whitcomb, Nicole Swaggerty, Kristen Steven, Jenny

Hasty, Jessica McConnell, Maalke Zeguers), 7:35.2; 2. UCI, 7:50.1; 3.

UCI, 7:58.4.

Men’s Varsity VIII - 1. OCC (Chris Kolstad, Bill Clifford, Lucas

Ridinger, Brian Scheele, Brett Winfield, Aaron Clousing, Dan Toth, Ryan

Davidson, Sam Yost), 6:07.1; 2. SDSU, 6:13.2; 3. USD, 6:18.0.

Men’s Junior Varsity VIII - 1. OCC (Joseph Thomas, Leo Shook, Seth

Scartaccini, Matt Hietbrink, Ethan Zotovich, Gints Salaks, Scrin Hoppe,

Alan Twigg, Todd Sakaria, David Tso), 6:24.5; 2. SDSU, 6:34.4; 3. UCI,

6:56.2.

Men’s Novice VIII A - 1. OCC (Michael Hard, James Holmstrom, Joey

Findmore, Steve Wukawitz, Chris Pope, Brian Sweet, Oscar Correa, Stuart

Blair, Raylan Willis), 6:19.9; 2. USD, 6:30.9; 3. Chapman, 6:35.7.

Men’s Novice VIII B - 1. OCC (Alan Lovegreen, Phillip Gerk, Mike

Krueger, Frank Brannen, Louis Van der Westhuizen, Garet Laningham, Chris

Bonnaud, Micah Rousset, Kristal Maw), 6:40.9; 2. UCLA, 7:14.2.