Blog

Put together by Martha Pitt, with contributions from Ken Legler, Bill Healy, Brendan Healy, Ward Cromwell, and John Vandemoer.

As we look forward to the 2011-2012 College sailing season, much remains to be seen regarding strength of many teams as last year’s graduating class held many of the top spots around the country. This year will show the importance of team depth as many sailors who have been waiting in the shadows will emerge; likewise, the new freshmen talent will have opportunities to make leaps and bounds and show their stuff on the race course.

MAISA

The largest thing of note for MAISA this year is its turnover in starting players from school to school. MAISA as a conference graduated its top five A-Division skippers, three of the top four B-Division skippers and several of its starting crews. 2011 graduates of note include College Sailor of the Year Charlie Buckingham and Scott Furnary from Georgetown, Rob Vann and Clark Hayes from Navy, Michael Menninger and Meghan Magill from St. Mary’s, Steph Roble from ODU, and David Thompson of Hobart. St. Mary’s returning women’s skipper Mimi Roller will also be taking the fall season off for a semester abroad. In addition to these skippers, MAISA graduated All-American crews Maddie Jackson (SMC), Ashley Phillips (Georgetown), Franny Kupersmith (SMC), and Meredith Powlison (SMC). Looking forward, expect Hobart to hit the ground running after a 2^nd place finish in Gill Dinghy Nationals last year with returning skippers Sam Bluin and Austin Anderson and returning All-American crew Chris Klevan. With the rumored return of Evan Eras to Georgetown’s line-up, Chris Barnard joining the team again for his third season, and the return of All-American crew Rebecca Evans, expect the Hoyas to be firing strong out of the gates. Also returning for G-Town is MAISA’s only Women’s All-American skipper still standing, Sydney Bolger. St. Mary’s will most likely be starting Josh Greenslade who played a key role for the team last fall but took the spring semester off. For Navy, the loss of Clark Hayes and Robert Vann will sting but with the return of All-American crew Saverio Maldari and some young talent among the Midshipmen, look for Navy to be sailing strong this season. Old Dominion will be returning last year’s B-Division skipper Dillion Paiva and All-American Crew Emily Reich. Aside from these notable players, MAISA will be a very young conference with the expected continuing improvement of Cornell, Kings Point, Fordham, and SUNY Maritime.

NEISA

Like MAISA, NEISA graduated many notable sailors last spring, including three College Sailor of the Year Finalists Taylor Canfield and Tyler Sinks from Boston College and Cy Thompson of Roger Williams University. Other graduated heavy-hitters include Alan Palmer and John Stokes of Harvard, Fred Strammer of Brown, along with seven NEISA All-American crews. Nevertheless, the conference remains strong and characteristically deep. Some have questioned whether or not Boston College will continue as the powerhouse they have been for the past five years as reigning national champions, but without a doubt Coach Wilkinson as plans for Women’s College Sailor of the Year Annie Haeger, who still has one more year of college sailing, and junior Alex Cook. Steph Hudson has been quiet on the women’s circuit battling injuries, but will undoubtedly be a strong player in the next two years. The Eagles will also have veteran crews Emily Massa and Laura McKenna to lead the way, and key freshmen William Bailey and Domenic Bove. Dartmouth certainly had the best recruiting class in the conference, bringing in notables Scott Houck, Deirdre Lambert, and Ian Storck, among others. They are a team that is continuing their building phase and will soon be a force on the water. MIT, often close behind the leading competition, did not lose any key players and will surely show improvement throughout the season and beyond. Tufts graduated some excellent sailors from their women’s team, who will certainly be tough to replace, while their men advance on with Dan Nickerson and Alec Ruiz-Ramon as added depth. Unfortunately for the Crimson, the Harvard team lost all three of last year’s starting skippers and two All-American crews, but return Brendan Kopp and Emily Lambert with new freshman Gram Slattery. University of Vermont, a team that had begun to climb the rankings again, graduated Coleman Bowen and lost Johnny Norfleet to Hobart, and so we will see if they can continue the momentum. Just coming off their first national championship, Team Race Champs Roger Williams still have All-American Alec Anderson, Sean Bouchard and crews Kelly Stannard and Sophie Bellacosa. Joe Morris returns to the Yale team and will undoubtedly remain strong on the race course on the coed side, while Yale’s young yet incredibly talented women’s team including Claire Dennis, Emily Billing, and Marlena Fauer will be tough to beat for the next few years.

MCSA

University of Wisconsin is the only Midwest team that has been able to give the coastal districts serious competition in recent years. The Badgers have already come out very strong this year by winning the Harry Anderson at Yale, returning their top two skippers senior Joe Kutschenreuter and sophomore George Kutschenreuter,  and top crews Molly Forbes and Meg Six, both seniors.  Several freshman and sophomores are chomping at the bit as well including sophomore Michael Lee and new freshman Connor Trepton.  Andrew Fox will once again be strong in the laser this year and is as fit as ever, ready to step onto the team race team. Northwestern returns much of last year’s team, including Max Clemons, Michael Cornew and Geoff Peodruck, all of whom went to Team Race Nationals, so their sailors have solid competition experience under their belts and will be ready to get into the rankings this fall.

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PCCSC

The PCCSC is gearing up for another great year. After hosting a successful Semi-Finals the PCCSC teams are hungry to make it to Semi’s and on to nationals. CMA and St. Francis are excited to host the 2^nd Match Race nationals in brand new J22’s on the same venue as the upcoming America’s Cup. Leading the way on the west coast is Stanford, who had a talented young team last year both for the coed and women’s teams. Most of the key players will return including Mateo Vargas, Kevin Laube, Oliver Toole, Sally Mace, Molly McKinney and Eliza Richartz. Nick Dugdale will return for his senior year to lead the Match Race program and be a player in dinghies.  The team lost two important crews, Hannah Burroughs and Hayley Tobin, but more great crews are on the way with freshman Haley Kirk and Natalie Urban joining sophomores Kelly Ortel, Yuri Namikawa and Helena Scutt. Other notable freshman joining the Cardinals are Kieran Chung, Hans Henken, and Michael Dahl. UC Santa Barbara will have a strong senior class this year returning with Ryan Sullivan, Nick Kaschak and Willie McBride. Also talented crews Morgan Renior and Keely Scates will be back , and may be seen in the back of the boat on the women’s race course. Rounding out this fast group is Caitlin Beavers. Look for the Gauchos to be on the rise! UCLA had a great year last year lead by now sophomore Judge Ryan. Judge will be back again and ready to make more improvement all the way to the national finals. CAL will have Cody Schevitz back to lead the Bears on the Coed Squad and new Freshman Kate Rakelly, Ida Lewis champion, should have a big impact on the women’s side. The USC Trojans return the heart of their team with Stephen Lue and Max Huthchison leading the coeds and Kelsey Rupp and Mallory Schluter leading the women’s team. Look for an improved USC team this year.

SEISA

SEISA has suffered greatly from the drought with most lakes in Texas and Oklahoma very short on water or closed completely. Hopefully teams will be able to recover from these unfortunate circumstances and continue racing. Tulane who won all three Conference championships in SEISA last year is gaining a solid women’s Radial sailor in Alec Paine from Florida, who should help the program get back to nationals this year. Texas is into full-on preparation to host the spring 2012 national championships, facilitating the sale of its current fleet and the purchase of a new one.

NWICSA

Univ Oregon looks strong, returning are co-ed skippers Phil Gordon, Elliot Drake and Andrew Balter. Elliot is a good bet for the NW berth to singlehandeds in Chicago and after a respectable showing at the Semis and Team Race Nationals, the Ducks will be hoping to add Miami and Austin to the itinerary as well.  Oregon State picks up a strong freshman, Brian Hickman, who should help keep the program alive and may keep the Beavers in the hunt for the Match Race berth along with older brother Jeff Hickman and Senior Carl Fixen. Portland State returns their entire Women’s team, including All-NW skipper Leila Whitney, who are all eager to make a return to nationals next spring.  A few freshman recruits from the NW high school programs may help out their chances at Coed’s as well.  University of Washington graduated captain and All-NW Skipper Glen Stellmacher last spring but remain a threat with a strong incoming class. Taylor Smith and Lilly Grimshaw come to NWICSA off of strong high school programs and will likely lead the NW freshman class. Karl Haelsig returns to the conference after a year at St. Mary’s and could help the Huskies at Co-eds next spring. Western Washington looks to be strong this fall, returning skippers Pat Taylor, Paul Foley, Ashley Vincent and Erika Vranizan. Erika is a favorite to win the women’s singlehands qualifier to be held in the Gorge and she will lead the Viking girls in their efforts to return to the Women’s Nationals next spring. A continually large roster is likely to bring in fresh talent that will help keep the Western program a top NW team this season. Look for Pat Talyor to lead the Vikings at a run for both the Match Race event this fall and the Co-eds next spring.

SAISA

Look for the University of Charleston Cougars to be strong on the coed side returning seniors Zeke Horowitz, Sam Stokes & Erik Bowers and juniors Ben Spector, Mac Mace, and Chris Banholzer. The real strength of the coed team comes from the talented crews of seniors Alyssa Aitken, Perry Emsiek, and juniors Cory DeCollibus & Brooks Clark. On the Women’s side expect Corey Hall, Sarah Scudder, Grace Lucas, and Sarah Somes to show continued improvement. Also watch out for freshman Nick Johnstone and Allie Blumenthal to show up on the circuit sometime soon. The Clemson Tigers will be fast after sailing a lot this summer at the College of Charleston. They return seniors Reid Cabiness, Drew Lasicki, and Andrea Sassard. At Eckerd, the Tritons are rebuilding after lossing some key players from last year. They will be looking to sophomores Robert Savoie, Wes Byrne & Walker Banks to fill the void. Look for seniors Emilie Mademann to lead the Tritons on the women’s side. After just missing the nationals finals last year, the Florida Gators to be hungry this spring. We should see Juniors Max Famiglietti and Ian Heausler returning on the coed side and Michelle Thomas and Caroline Wright leading the Gators on the women’s side. UMiami has a strong senior class of Nick Voss, David Hernandez, Alex Olt, Nicole Popp, Nikki Bruno  and Amy Gaylord as well as juniors Liam Munzenmaier, Chelsea Carlson, and Brogan Abernethy, all members of the team that qualified for the nationals in 2011. Miami has added three new women’s skippers in freshman Laura Hernandez, Christine DeSilva, and Taylor Scheuermann.  Miami is looking forward to hosting the 2012 National Semi Finals as part of the 2012 Volvo Ocean Race stop in Miami. The South Florida Bulls should get off to a good start with returning senior Sean Ross, Hillary Noble, Abby Featherstone & junior Will Stocke. Chris Stocke has been added to the roster and should make a quality impact on this squad, especially in the Laser. The Bulls also welcome freshman Ben Mohney, Emily Johnson, Matt Whitehead & Dominique Wright.