Posted: May 14, 2025

Pirates crew wrap up season in style

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. -- The Orange Coast College women's crew wrapped up the 2025 season with three grand final performances at the 2025 American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) National Championship Regatta this past weekend on Melton Lake.

"The ladies worked hard all year and despite teams thinking we have scholarships and high school rowers who make up our entire team, only one of our entire team of 30 rowed in high school," OCC head coach Laura Behr said. "I'm so proud of the grit and fortitude these ladies showed every race. Being the only two-year college with a rowing team makes us very unique. We always go into every season as the underdogs, but never come out as one. I'm so proud of their hardwork and determination."

Coast earned a national runner-up, a third-place and a fourth-place against the best four-year programs in the country ... not too shabby for a "junior" college.

OCC's Natalie Stehly competed in the grand final of the Women's 1x B Final and finished as the national runner-up with a time of 9 minutes, 29.23 seconds. Only Katrina Schneider from the University of Cincinnati (9:13.84) came in with a faster time. Stehly was followed by Ching-Wen Shih from Clarkson (9:32.20), Rice's Keyu Chen (9:39.83) and Georgia Tech's Eva Kushnir (9:47.02).

In the Varsity 4 Grand Final, the Pirates earned third place in the nation with a time of 7:47.85, topped only by Florida Tech (7:36.48) and Lafayette (7:40.11). Coast topped three other schools in the race, including the University of Chicago (7:54.07), the University of Texas (8:03.55) and Liberty University (8:07.58).

The Pirates also earned a grand final spot in the Novice 8 race, where OCC finished fourth overall with a time of 7:43.65. Grand Valley earned the top spot with a time of 7:32.42. OCC came in ahead of a pair of big four-year programs ... Purdue University (7:48.85) and the University of Illinois (8:11.86).