Pirates rule the waters at Collins Cup
NEWPORT BEACH -- Under near-perfect conditions, the Orange Coast College men's crew posted near-perfect results as they earned a pair of first-place times over UC Irvine at the annual Collins Cup on Saturday on the Newport Harbor.
The Pirates rowed to victory over the Anteaters, keeping the Collins Cup trophy for the fourth year in a row and did so in convincing fashion.
In the men's varsity 8 race for the Collins Cup, the Pirates finished first ... and second ... with the Anteaters well behind in third place. The OCC "A" boat of Nigel Root, James Godinez, Umberto Vidali, Ryan Goertz, Dylan Davis, Aiden Cravens, Adrien Howe, Marlon Knecht and Cameron Charette (coxswain) conquered the 2,000-meter course in impressive fashion, winning the race with a time of 6 minutes, 11.1 seconds. OCC's "B" boat (Lucien Strona, Kellan Murphy, Ethan Puckett, Jeffrey Stallman, Blake Tarricone, Giaanjeet Kalsi, Tolya Delephine, Noah Thompson and coxswain Allegra Vidali) earned a solid second-place time of 6:23.8, with UCI a distant third at 6:43.3.
It was more of the same in the men's novice 8 race, with OCC "A" well ahead of the pack, followed by OCC "B" and UCI. The "A" boat of Adam Schnore, Patrick Meesey, Jacob Lindley, Kade Oswold, Matthew Josephbek, Dominique Harrison, Linden Acevedo, Jose Vidal and Lucas Astrachan (coxswain) pulled ahead early and earned an open-water winning time of 6:27. The OCC "B" boat of Mission Schlegel, Alec Pinedjian, Santiago Trias, Brayden Jacobs, Adam Rea, Blake Roussett, Cole Sinclair, Hamza Kahn and Connor Krost (coxswain) was 12 seconds behind in second place with a time of 6:39, with UCI (7:04) finishing a distant third.
The Pirates will now gear up for their championship races to wrap up the 2026 season. Coast will head up to Sacramento for the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships, set for April 25 at Lake Cachuma, beginning at 7 a.m. After that, the Pirates head to Nashville, TN for the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) National Championships, set for May 14-18, at 7 a.m.
