NAC junior rowers sparkle

The Newport Aquatic Center’s junior crew teams tasted victory in San

Diego on Sunday at the first California Cup regatta of the year.

The NAC entry made an impressive showing, including 11 first-place

wins and five second-place finishes over the 1,700-meter course.

The prestigious Cal Cup is an annual series of regatta held

throughout the spring rowing season at venues along the California

coast.

The men’s team won four races and had three second-place finishes

in the six-team field.

Men’s varsity single sculler Jon Berg powered into a strong lead

and captured the gold with a time of 7:23.

Also taking home gold were the men’s varsity quad (Brandon

Dillman, Morgan Rousset, Mike Matthews and Graham Brant-Zawadski) in

6:09; the men’s JV quad (Greg Somers, Greg Schneider, Matt Siemonsma

and Ken Ito) in 6:07; and the men’s lightweight eight (Erik Oatman,

Aaron Cohen, Clark Brooks, Rousset, Somers, Robin Thorley, Blake

Foster, Siemonsma and coxswain Zack Haskell) in 5:34.

Second-place honors went to the varsity eight (Brant-Zawadski,

Brooks, Jeff Soukup, Mogan Sabo, Kevin Song, Mike Dabney, Dillman,

Foster and coxswain Elliott Thacker) in 511; the novice eight (Alex

Powell, Cohen, Zach Cooper, Jesse Eschenroder, Zack Buttolph, Joshua

Vann, Oatman, Thorley and coxswain Erika Gambill) in 5:37; and the

novice quad (Brandon Arico, Mark Morihiro, Cole Baratto, Tony Trevino

and coxswain David Donald) in 6:07.

The women’s varsity eight (Esther Lofgren, Sara Wales, Jessica

Fritz, Anne Kircher, Jill Austin, Erica Van Steenis, Meredith Irby,

Jean Geddes and coxswain Lauren Lorman) won the gold, as did the

varsity four and varsity quad.

The varsity four, consisting of Lofgren, Wales, Fritz, Geddes and

coxswain Lorman), won in 6:07. The varsity quad, with a time of 6:21,

was Fritz, Lofgren, Irby and Geddes).

The women’s junior varsity won both events. In the JV four shell

consisted of Kirsten Contino, Dana Hunt, Nita Grubb and Gaby Assayag,

coxed by Jennifer Guess. The JV eight, winning in 6:19, was Hunt,

Contino, Assayag, Grubb, Nancy Balt, Ashly Vale, Krista Redman,

Claire McKay and Guess. The JV quad of Hunt, Assayag, Grubb and McKay

was second.

The women’s novice eight (Marjon Bahremand, Shelby McKenna, Anna

Oatman, Izabella Elkis, Marlo Sciarra, Lauren Doyle, Marcy Beumont,

Christina Campbell and coxswain Carly Dobson) was a winner in 6:47.

The novice four (Austin, Van Steenis, Mia Ito, Balt) and coxswain

Annika Overby) won in 7:08. Another NAC novice eight boat (Austin,

Van Steenis, Ito, Balt, Vale, Tiffany Lucas, Grubb, Redman and

coxswain Overby) was second.