OCC Men's Crew claims two national titles!
GAINESVILLE -- On a sunny, breezy day on the 1996 Olympic Rowing Course in Gainesville, Georgia on Sunday, two crews from Orange Coast College captured gold medals at the American Collegiate Rowing Association National Championships.
The Coast Novice 8 and 2nd Novice 8 blasted out to early leads in each of their events, and rowed to open-water victories over club teams from all over the United States. The Novice 8 defeated 18 competitors, and successfully defended the National Championship title won by OCC last year. The 2nd Novice victory re-captured the title that Coast won two years ago in 2013, and capped off an undefeated spring race season for them. Both crews had dominant performances in the Saturday heats, and followed that up in the Grand Finals the next day.
Orange Coast has captured three national titles in the Novice 8 event in the last four years, as well as two in the 2nd Novice 8 event. Additionally, It has captured championship titles in the Varsity 4 in 2013, and the Novice 4 in 2012.
Coast was also represented this year by crews entered in the Varsity 4, Varsity Lightweight 4, Novice Lightweight 4, and the Varsity single. The Varsity 4 won the "B" final, placing 9th out of 28 competitors after being knocked out of the Grand Final in a very competitive semi-final race. Their time in the B Final would have placed them 5th overall had they made it to the Grand Final. The Varsity Lightweight 4 placed 6th out of 10 competitors, and the Novice Lightweight 4 was edged out of a bronze medal by 1 foot in their final, coming in 4th. The Varsity single came in 16th overall out of 28 entries.
Orange Coast was also represented by recent graduates who were rowing for the four-year universities that they had transferred to. Austin Gentry (2013) rowed to a silver medal in the Grand Valley State Varsity 8 against Cody Raphael (2014) who rowed in UCSB's fifth place Varsity 8 entry. Also, Dave Hammond (2013) won a silver medal stroking the Washington State Varsity Ltwt 4.
This regatta not only provides fantastic racing opportunities for OCC athletes, but has provided opportunities to meet coaches and rowers from a variety of schools across the country. This year, the team was able to meet coaches from Michigan and Grand Valley State and learn about admissions requirements and how their programs run.
Just this month, two Coast rowing alumni graduated from Kansas State University, having transferred there after meeting the K-State rowers and coaches at ACRA two years ago.
