Pirates earn three gold medals at WIRAs
RANCHO CORDOVA -- It was a golden weekend for the Orange Coast College men's crew as the Pirates headed up to Sacramento for the 2022 Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships and returned home with three gold medals and a solid fourth-place performance against some of the best four-year programs in the region.
Coast went a perfect 3-for-3 in the Novice 8 events. In the grand final, the crew of Rhodes Rosenthal, Sebastian Hasselquist, Josh Grumet, Gage Saari, Nate Hopkins, Gavin Reynolds, Jake Buscaglio, Nick Funchess and coxswain Ashton Ortega took home the gold in the Novice 8 with a time of 6:18, ahead of UCLA (6:23), Santa Clara (6:24), UC Davis (6:28), Washington State (6:32), Loyola Marymount (6:32) and USC (6:40).
In the Second Novice 8 race, again the Pirates prevailed as the team of Vince Petokas, Pierce Rands, Ayden Davis, Alex Roberts, Jake Queen, Troy Shair, Zach Fraser, Cameron Herrera De Araujo and coxswain Mo Guild crossed the finish line with a winning time of 6:31, ahead of UCLA (6:38), UC Davis (6:59), USC (7:03), Western Washington University (7:11), UC Irvine (7:18) and UC Santa Barbara (7:46).
Coast also competed in the Third Novice 8 in a one-on-one race with UCLA and again, the Pirates finished on top. The crew of Nathan Reyes, Jason Vozovoy, Ethan Van Iersel, Ayden Brown, Ben Morris, Dylan Dunnigan, Sawyer Yendes, Will Giron and coxswain Joseph Basalone earned an open-water victory (6:41) over the runner-up Bruins (6:58).
OCC also earned a fourth-place time of 8:03 in the petite final of the Novice 4, led by Connor Addison, Armando Gama, Dylan Casson, Omar Al-Muhtasib and coxswain Renzo Rossi.
"These results are an excellent testament to the work, and standard the athletes have executed since the fall," OCC head coach Cam Brown said. "Now we'll look to complete the season on a high – competing against some of the strongest 4-year universities in the country at the National Championships."
The final competition of the 2022 season will take place at the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) Championships, set for May 20-22 on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
