Women’s crew: Pirate rowers triumph

SACRAMENTO - The Orange Coast College women’s junior varsity eight

and men’s novice eight won their respective grand finals Saturday at the

Western Intercollegiate Rowing Championships on Lake Natoma.

The victorious women’s boat, coached by Linda Moeller, consisted of

Brooke Albiston, Sarah Daum, Jessica Griffin, Malin Gustavsson, Lot

Keizer, Nikki Koning, Christy Koss, Megan Nichols and coxswain Jenna

Dubios.

The Pirates, who finished the 2,000-meter course in 7:13.6, defeated

Gonzaga, UC Davis, the University of San Diego, San Diego State and UC

Santa Barbara in the grand final, after winning its heat with a

five-second margin over runner-up Gonzaga.

The Pirates’ men’s novice eight, coached by Larry Moore, was nearly

four seconds faster than UC Davis in its final. OCC finished in 6:24.5.

The OCC men’s varsity eight finished second. The Pirates’ 6:09.2

clocking was bested only by UC Davis (6:05.6).

The OCC men’s junior varsity eight finished fourth (6:20.0), behind UC

Davis (6:13.1), including some former OCC oarsmen, Gonzaga (6:17.3) and

Western Washington (6:18.2).

The OCC women’s novice eight finished sixth in the grand final, which

was won by UC Davis.

In the Pirates’ novice eight boat were Candice Collings, Amber Excell,

Tawny Harris, Michele Hensley, Kathleen Machado, Eve Van der Tak, Jen

Vigneaulti and coxswain Colby Dyer. The unit is coached by Liz Hubbard.

The OCC men and women will travel to Lake Lanier in Georgia, the 1996

Olympic venue, to compete in the Avaya Communications Collegiate

Championship May 12-13.