Pirates’ rowers triumph

The Orange Coast College crew, which won the varsity eight final as

well as the junior varsity eight final and the second novice eight

final, claimed the Palmer Cup as overall champion Sunday at the

Newport regatta in the North Lido Channel.

The Pirates’ varsity eight boat, consisting of Danny Johnson,

Tyler Wilcox, Roman Roudeyev, Jake Carr, Wes Temple, Steve Egner,

J.T. Eger, Brian Moran and coxswain Ashley Thomas, completed the

2,000-meter course in 6 minutes, 15 seconds, more than four seconds

ahead of runner-up UC San Diego.

UC Irvine, which tied three other schools for second in the

overall team standings, was fifth in the varsity eight race with a

time of 6:28.

OCC’s winning time in the junior varsity eight was 6:19.5,

followed by UCSD (6:25.9) and UCI (6:36.6).

OCC’s triumph in the second novice eight race came in 6:20.5, well

ahead of second-place UCI (6:48.2).

The varsity four was won by the University of San Diego in 7:05.9,

followed by Long Beach State (7:11.4), UC Santa Barbara’s No. 1 boat

(7:20.1) and OCC (6:15.0).

The Novice four race was won by Long Beach State (7:02), with OCC

second in 7:14.4.

The Novice eight No. 1 race was won by USC in 6:29.6, followed by

OCC, more than three seconds back. UCI finished third.

49ers hold off Anteaters

* TENNIS: Long Beach State senior Kelly Chan rebounded from a 4-2

deficit in the third set to defeat UC Irvine senior Tiffany Chang,

7-5, 1-6, 6-4, and clinch victory, 4-2, in the title match of the Big

West Conference women’s tennis championships Sunday at the Indian

Wells Tennis Garden in Palm Desert.

The 49ers held a slim 3-2 advantage with the No. 1 and No. 2

singles matches remaining. Chan’s victory brought a halt to the No. 1

singles match between UCI’s Anna Bentzer and Long Beach State’s

Nicole Bouffler, which was in the third set.

UCI lost the doubles point, but remained in contention thanks to

singles victories by No. 5 Jayme Hu and No. 6 Christie Posner. Hu

defeated Sandra Rocha, 7-5, 6-4, and Posner bettered Claudia

Argumedo, 6-2, 6-4.

With the victory, the 49ers (18-8) earned the conference’s

automatic berth in the NCAA championships. UCI finishes its season

15-8.

Eagles’ Johnson places

* TRACK AND FIELD: Estancia High senior Jason Johnston was seventh

in the 110-meter high hurdles (15.41 seconds) and eighth in the long

jump (20 feet, 10 inches) at the Orange County Championships Saturday

at Trabuco Hills High.

UCI contingent shines

* TRACK AND FIELD: The UC Irvine men’s and women’s track and field

teams performed well at UC San Diego’s Triton Invitational in La

Jolla Saturday.

In men’s competition, sophomores Tom Whelan and Ricky Barnes

finished second and third, resectively, in the 1,500 meters with

times of 3:51.79 and 3:52.08.

Patrick Grogan placed second in the triple jump with a mark of 47

feet, 9 inches, while Jon Wratten was third in the high jump (6-9

3/4).

Scott Jarvis was fourth in the 400 hurdles (53.41), while Fred Lee

(45-1 in the triple jump), Weston Motoyasu (6-8 in the high jump) and

Joe Lourenco(22-8 1/2) all posted fifth-place finishes.

Kenny Vinh was seventh in in the 400 hurdles.

Senior Tessa Cendejas led the UCI women’s team with a second-place

finish of 4:36.91 in the 1,500. while Kelli Vanderburg (4:49.02) and

Jenny Liou (4:49.52) placed sixth and seventh.

Erin Curtis was fourth in the pole vault with a season-best mark

of 12-7 1/4 and Kirsten Loftin was fifth at 12-1 1/4.

Kimberly Harper was fourth in the high jump with a career-best

mark of 5-5 and Orlisha Henlon finished eighth at 5-3.

Janelle Del Soldato was sixth in the 800 in 2:14.68.

* Baseball summary:

*--*

Big West Conference

UC Irvine 6, UOP 1

Score by Innings

UOP 001 000 000 -- 1 5 3

UCI 011 202 00x -- 6 9 1

Mathews, Barbic (4), Schmidt (6) and

Amos; Cassel, Erickson (9) and Wagner. W

-- Cassel, 4-2. L -- Mathews, 1-8. 2B --

Szabo (UCI), Harper (UOP) 2. HR --

Anderson (UCI).

*--*