OCC Sends Four Crews Into Rowing Finals

Four crews from Orange Coast College and one from UC Irvine advanced to today’s finals of the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships at Sacramento’s Lake Natoma based on their performances in the 2,000-meter preliminary races Saturday.

In a junior varsity eight heat Saturday, Cal surged in the last 20 strokes to edge the Pirates by two seconds. Today’s finals will pit defending champion Cal against OCC, Stanford, UCLA, Washington and UC Santa Barbara at 2:20 p.m.

In a freshman eight heat, the Pirates passed Stanford with 250 meters to go to win with the fastest time in any heat, 6:28.34, to the Cardinal’s 6:29.21. UCI finished second to Cal in another heat, qualifying for today’s final at 11:30 a.m. along with OCC, Stanford, Washington, Cal and UCLA.

The OCC novice eight suffered its first defeat of the season when Oregon State passed the Pirates in the last 10 strokes. Also in today’s 10 a.m. novice eight finals are Cal, Stanford, San Diego State and Sacramento State.

The Pirates won their heat in the varsity four and will join the University of Pacific, Oregon, Sacramento State, San Diego State and Stanford in the finals at 8:40 a.m.