Pirates Novice 4 earn national crown at ACRA
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. -- The Orange Coast College women's crew earned NATIONAL recognition on Sunday, taking home the nation's fastest time in the Novice 4 race, capping off a stellar weekend of racing at the American College Rowing Association (ACRA) Championships.
The Pirate foursome of Genevieve Pettite Gardner, Kate McAllister, Alexis Taylor, Keeley Bourcy and Addison Haught (coxswain) raced well in qualifiers to earn a spot in the grand final. There, the Pirates left the other top Novice 4 boats in their wake, finishing with a championship time of 8 minutes, 13.15 seconds, over five seconds faster than national runner-up, Oklahoma State (8:18.32), with Indiana University (8:22.39), UC Santa Barbara (8:38.56), University of Colorado (8:43.18) and Lafayette (8:50.65) rounding out the grand final times.
"This was definitely a gold medal earned through dedication, hard work and the strength of a crew that refused to quit," OCC head coach Laura Behr said. "I'm so proud of this group of athletes and everything they accomplished together."
For OCC's Varsity 8 boat (Klara Kettler, Madison Garner, Saelah Pescevic, Madyson Fitch, Kathryn Henry, Paige Hasegawa, Elizabeth Anderson, Katelyn De Rosas and Margrett Thai (coxswain), they qualified for the "C" final and in spite of not qualifying for the grand final, the Pirates came on strong to not only win their final (7:29.46), their time was also faster than any of the boats in the "B" final. OCC's time ended up being the 7th-fastest time among the 18 boats in all three finals races.
"After a rough first race, the V8 responded, showing resilience, grit and heart when it mattered most," Behr said. "They fought for every seat and laid down one of the boat's best races of the year to win their final. Their closing sprint to the finish line to win really showed how fast they can be."
