Pirates' strong season ends with fourth-place team finish at ACRA Nationals

GAINESVILLE, GA -- The Orange Coast College men's crew took on the best of the best from the around the country and in the end, the Pirates earned an impressive fourth-place team finish at the 2017 American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) National Championships this past weekend on Lake Ranier.

"It was a combination of frustrating and rewarding for the guys this weekend," OCC head coach Cam Brown said. "Early on, whenever we needed bit of luck or just something to go our way, it just didn't happen, so that was frustrating. But, the guys fought hard all weekend and they didn't let it phase them, which was so rewarding to see. Every crew stumbled in some way on the first day and every crew dusted themselves off to rebound and make amends later in the regatta. I'm proud of the work and effort the guys put in all year."

With only four boats entered in the three-day event, the Pirates finished fourth overall out of 77 four-year schools with 284 points, behind only Michigan (683), UC Santa Barbara (464) and the University of Virginia (435).

For the Varsity 8, an unfortunate time trial on Friday left the Pirates ninth overall (top-8 automatically advanced to the semifinals), so Coast took to the water again on Saturday and earned a spot into the semifinal race with a time of 6:45.53. 

In that semifinal race, Coast battled hard, but settled for a seventh-place time of 6:24.45 and a trip to the "B" Finals. 

There, Coast, which raced its fourth race in 36 hours in headwind conditions, topped the field with a winning open-water time of 6:36.08, ahead of Grand Valley (6:40.05), Minnesota (6:40.56), Texas (6:42.31), UC Davis (6:45.18), Notre Dame (6:45.36), UMass (6:51.38) and Oregon (6:53.34). OCC's time even topped two of the boats that qualified for the "A" final, giving the Pirates a solid conclusion to their 2017 varsity season.

For the first time in school history, OCC entered a Junior Varsity 8 boat and the Pirates made the most of their opportunity, qualifying for the "A" final and finishing 8th overall against the likes of Michigan, Virginia, Delaware and UC Santa Barbara.

For the Coast Novice A team, the Pirates earned a return trip to the national finals and there, the Pirates came through with a bronze medal performance, placing third with a time of 6:29.95, behind only Boston College (6:21.94) and UCSB (6:27.03). Michigan (6:30.64) finished fourth, while Minnesota (6:34.44) placed fifth.

In the Novice B division, Coast was in the finals and notched the highest finish for the Pirate boats, earning a second-place silver medal with a time of 6:56.26, behind only Michigan's strong finish of 6:48.04. Notre Dame pushed OCC, but settled for third at 6:56.84, while UC Irvine (7:04.40), UC Davis (7:14.93) and Colorado (7:31.89) rounded out the top-six.

In addition to the outstanding team accolades, OCC sophomore Sam Melvin earned a spot on ACRA's All-Region Team, based on his 2,000-meter testing scores, performance of their crew, career racing results, individual performances and coach recommendations.