College rowing: NAC rowers bound for UCLA

Eight members of the Newport Aquatic Center varsity women’s crew,

including Newport Harbor High seniors Kate Mead and Lauren Berghell, are

among the first recruiting class for the newly re-established women’s

rowing team at UCLA.

Rowing had been a club program at UCLA in recent years, but will be

reinstated beginning next fall and Bruins Coach Amy Fuller was happy to

invite the eight NAC athletes to help get the program off and rowing.

In addition to Mead and Berghell, other NAC standouts who will

continue rowing for the Bruins include Michelle Fickling and Lindsey

Serrins (Capistrano Valley High), Shannon Packer and Lindsey Payne (El

Toro High), Lauren May (Canyon High), and Lindsey Hurban (Mission Viejo

High).

Berghell, who has attended UCLA football games all her life and had

hoped to attend the school from an early age, will become a

third-generation Bruin.