OCC squeaks into final

CHERRY HILL, N.J. — There are six men’s varsity eight crews in today’s grand final of the 106th Intercollegiate Rowing Assn. championships, but only one is from a community college.

Orange Coast College continued its remarkable run in the Kennedy Challenge Bowl event by edging Cornell to advance to today’s six-team grand final on Cooper River in Cherry Hill, N.J.

A bow ball, all of two one-thousandths of a second, was all that separated OCC and Cornell Friday morning. OCC took the third qualifying spot in the semifinal, finishing in 5 minutes, 46.733 seconds, while Cornell came in at 5:46.775.

Washington won the semifinal heat, less than a boat length ahead of OCC in 5:44.670, followed by Brown in 5:45.218.

Cal won the other semifinal, while Harvard and Wisconsin also qualified.

Pirates Coach Larry Moore, who graduated from OCC in 1971 and Cornell in 1973, watched the race from about 15 feet from the finish line.

“We were a good two feet ahead from where I was standing,” Moore said. “They felt good about the race. They had a good start and were right in it. They moved well at the 1,000 and when they took tens. They had a couple little bobbles, but they recovered well. We did one more thing right than Cornell did to get on the right side of that bow ball.”

The OCC varsity eight includes: coxswain Mike Hinderberger, stroke James Long-Lerno, as well as Bobby Jacobs, Steve Oesterich, Erich Hanxleden, Roger Huffman, Dan Dahlin, Will Prioleau and Kelly Hughes at bow.

Orange Coast has been attending the IRA regatta since 1968, when the Pirates finished second in the JV 8 behind Pennsylvania. That performance was followed by a second-place finish in the Varsity 4 in 1969.

It has been 18 years, however, since OCC’s last appearance in the grand final second-varsity event at the IRA. That last appearance was in 1990, when the crew came in fifth. In 1987, the Pirates finished in third place.

OCC’s best finish in any event at the regatta came in 1980 when, under the direction of then-frosh coach Moore, the Pirates won the Freshman 8 championship.

Today’s race can be followed at www.row2k.com.

OCC will be in lane No. 1. Wisconsin in lane No. 2, followed by Washington, Cal, Brown and Harvard in lane No. 6.

— From staff reports