Memorial set for OCC rower

Deepa Bharath

Friends and family of Orange Coast College rower Brian Sweet, who died

Thursday afternoon during an off-season workout at the college’s stadium

bleachers, will remember him during a memorial Saturday.

The informal event will take place at the Orange Coast College’s

Sailing Center at 6 p.m. at 1801 W. Coast Highway, home to the college

crew team Sweet was part of for the last year.

Sweet was running up and down the stadium’s stairs Thursday afternoon

with friend and teammate Chris Pope when he collapsed. He died within an

hour.

The Orange County coroner still has not pinpointed what caused Sweet’s

death. A preliminary autopsy that was done Friday morning proved

inconclusive, said Jon Fleischman, a spokesman for the coroner’s office.

“We’ll go into more definitive testing, such as toxicology and

microbiology,” he said.

Those results are expected within the next three weeks, Fleischman

added.

Family members and friends have maintained that Sweet was a healthy

man with no known health problems.

Crew team coach Dave Grant said he still cannot come to grips with the

death of one of his best oarsmen.

“We’re at a loss in terms of understanding it,” he said. “It’s a hard

one.”

Grant said the college has a strict policy against strength enhancers

available over the counter. Nationally, those supplements are suspected

in a number of athletes’ deaths this year.

“In rowing, especially, there’s no history of it,” he said. “Because

athletes work too hard to get mixed up with something like that. It’s not

worth it.”

Grant said those who have used strength enhancers in the past have

received help from college counselors.

But as they wait for answers, Sweet’s friends and family will honor

his life and remember the person he was, Grant said.

Sweet’s family will hold a private family service at their church, he

said.