Pirates earn gold and silver at ACRA Nationals!

Eighteen tired but happy Coast rowers landed at John Wayne airport last night to a warm welcome from a group of parents and supporters, including OCC President Dennis Harkins and Trustee/President Emeritus Dave Grant.  Each of the rowers had an American Collegiate Rowing Association Championship medal hanging from their neck.  It was a great weekend for OCC out at the 1992 Olympic Rowing Venue in Lake Lanier, GA! 

Coast sent two eights to compete in the ACRA National Championship Regatta, held on Saturday and Sunday.  This is the premier race for all the club level rowing programs in the US, and features intense competition on all levels. In the Grand Finals held on Sunday morning, the OCC Novice 8 won the National Championship title, and the 2nd Novice 8 took the silver medal in their event. 

The day started well with the 2nd Novice event, going off under clear skies and light tailwind conditions.  Coast was allocated an outside lane in the 5 boat field based on their fourth place finish in a race for lanes the day before.   

They got off to a good start, rowing at 44 strokes/minute before settling down to 36 for the body of the race.  Notre Dame edged into the lead, with Coast right on their heels in the first half of the course. They fended off several challenges from other crews in the middle 1000 meters, and pulled into a solid silver medal position with 250 meters to go.  Notre Dame took the gold medal with Coast five seconds back for the silver, and the rest of the field closely bunched a length behind OCC.  It was a great finish for our small, but tenacious crew! 

Two hours later, the Men's Novice 8 Grand Final started.  Coast raced in Lane 5, flanked by two powerhouses, Michigan and Virginia on either side with Santa Barbara in Lane 7.  Our team blasted out to a clean quick start, and established a half-length lead over the tightly bunched 8-boat field.  They answered repeated challenges from several crews, but kept their bow ahead through the body of the race until a strong push from Santa Barbara closed their margin to almost nothing.  OCC responded and opened a 3/4 length lead in the last 300 meters to finish two seconds ahead of UCSB, who held off the hard charging bronze medal team from Virginia by 3 seats.   In total, Coast defeated 14 other crews that were entered in this event. 

Overall, these results were a terrific accomplishment by our Novices who showed a lot of resilience throughout the year. They bounced back from some pretty difficult times and stepped up to meet the challenges that faced them.  They deserve hearty congratulations for a job well done this year. 

Here are the official results: