Pirate men, women each capture Collins Cup
NEWPORT BEACH -- The waters of the Newport Harbor with cold and the weather was dreary, but the results were fantastic for the Orange Coast College men's and women's crew as both squads captured the 2024 Collins Cup in their annual matchup with UC Irvine on Saturday.
For the OCC men, they went head-to-head with UCI in five races and the Pirates went a perfect 5-for-5, earning open-water victories in all five events.
In the Novice 4 boat -- consisting of Braden Hunt, Liam Ferguson, Burak Kurtulmus and Andrew Chavez -- Coast cruised to a seven-second win over UCI with a time of 7 minutes, 19.1 seconds, with UCI taking second at 7:26.8.
The Second Novice 8 boat of Max Gibson, Draegon Hennessy, Jackson Rud, Paul Darakjian, Jackson Fuller, Colin Reilly, Ray Miller and Nolan Murphy blew away the 'Eaters with a time of 6:15, far ahead of UCI's time of 7:38.
The Novice 8 boat that featured Aiden Domingo, Joe Morken, Jake Johansen, Xander Weber, Harrison Hunt, Dylan Taylor, Tyler Duss and Adrien Howe, notched a 44-second victory over UCI with a winning time of 6:13.
In the Second Varsity 8 matchup, the Pirate eight of Pablo Lacar, Talon Gutierrez, Dylan Casson, Charlie Wilt, Jeff Stallman, Alex Dilday, Ethan Almarez and Torin Parsa earned a 25-second win over the Anteater boat with a time of 6:14.
And finally, in the Varsity 8, the Pirate boat consisting of Earl Marvin, Felipe Artia, Davis Schroeder, Dylan Good, Jimmy Curry, Dallas Watson, Octavio Alva and Ethan Sollinger rolled to a 13-second win with a time of 5:57.1, ahead of UCI's top-boat time of 6:10.9.
On the women's side, the Pirates went a perfect 3-for-3 in their races, picking up open-water, first-place wins in the Novice 8, the Varsity 4 and Varsity 8 races.
In the Novice 8, the crew of Caylee Green, Kamilla Toibazarova, Dayana Toibazarova, Shu Ichiwaka, Natalie Stehly, Joanna Jackson, Megan Iida, Maysa Garcia and coxswain Kaylee Beaumont went out early and never looked back on the Anteaters, finishing the 2,000-meter course in a time of 7:41.52, well ahead of UCI's time of 8:54.18.
In the Varsity 4, the five-boat race saw the Pirates finish first and third, respectively, with Coast's winning boat (Kendall Colbert, Devin Morrison, Raquel Bennett, Savannah Sennott, coxswain Kat Keller) taking the top spot with a time of 7:39.19, followed by UCI (7:58.71) and OCC (8:08.05).
Finally, in the Varsity 8, the Pirates and Anteaters had the best battle of the morning, but in the end, the squad of Isa Lluncor, Tori Hink, Jovana Hester, Nagisa Kudo, Logan Presho, Devin Morrison, Raquel Bennett, Savannah Sennott and coxswain Kat Keller earned a 3-second win on the Anteaters with a victorious time of 7:01.96.
