Coast takes four-of-six at UC Santa Barbara
SANTA BARBARA -- In fast, choppy, tailwind conditions, the Orange Coast College men's crew picked up wins in four-of-six races in Sunday's dual against UC Santa Barbara.
In the opening race, the 3rd Novice 8 jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, finishing ahead of the Gauchos by one boat length with a time of 6:26.4. The Gauchos came in with a time of 6:29.5.
Next up, in the mixed even, OCC's Novice Lightweight 8 team matchup against UCSB's Heavyweight 3rd Varsity 8 and battled the Gauchos for the entire race before one of OCC's rowers caught a crab in the chop and effectively ended the race for the Pirates (6:11.3).
The next race saw an OCC Varsity 4 boat go up against a pair of UCSB Varsity 4 boats. By the midway point, Coast held a one-boat length lead on the Gauchos and held on to win by that margin with a time of 6:29.0.
In the Varsity 8 matchup, the Gauchos entered that race with just one loss early in the season and jumped out to the early lead. Coast made a couple of runs to get to within a few seats of the Gauchos, but the hosts remained strong and beat the Pirates with a boat-length-winning time of 5:34.8.
In the final two races of the afternoon -- the 2nd Novice 8 and Novice 8 -- Coast dominated the Gauchos and won each race by over 15 seconds. In the Novice 8 race, Coast crossed the finish line with an impressive time of 5:55.3, while the 2nd Novice 8 won with a time of 6:01.0.
