Pirates top UCI, UCSB in capturing 2024 Berg Cup!
NEWPORT BEACH -- The three-school battle for the 2024 Berg Cup was joined by an uninvited guest -- Mother Nature. But in the end, the Orange Coast College women's crew overcame the wet, windy conditions as well as the other two quality programs in the field to bring up the Berg Cup title on Saturday in the Newport Harbor.
The Pirates and UCSB Gauchos tied with the same number of points, but the Pirates won the tiebreaker by virtue of winning the Varsity 8 race, giving Coast the Berg Cup.
In that race, Coast battled UCSB and UCI as the waters and wind made racing a struggle for all three boats. But in the end, the Pirates began to pull away and by the halfway point of the race, OCC had open water on the other two boats. It stayed that way throughout the remainder of the battle as the Pirates earned a winning time of 6 minutes, 45.4 seconds, with UCSB taking second (6:55.2) and UCI third (6:58.5).
After earning a second-place time in the Novice 8 race (7:21.02), the Pirates wrapped things up in the pouring rain against UCI in the Varsity 4 race.
That one was no competition as the Pirates pulled away from the Anteaters within the first 100 yards and cruised to a winning time of 6:57.5, well ahead of UCI's time of 7:48.2.
The Pirates will return to action on Saturday, April 5 at the San Diego Crew Classic, down in Mission Bay, beginning at 7 a.m.
