Dinghy National Champion: St. Mary’s College
Women’s National Champion: Yale University
Team Race Champion: Boston College (defends title)
ST. MARY’S WINS
2009 ICSA/GILL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
San Francisco, Calif. (June 2, 2009) – All the pieces were in place today
for an exciting finale to determine the 2009 ICSA/Gill National Championship
on San Francisco Bay, from warmer air and sea conditions, to good breeze, to
a close contest between the two frontrunners for the title – St. Mary’s
College (St. Mary’s, Md.) and Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) – who were
separated by just seven points with only eight races left to sail. When all
was said and done, after 36 races over three days contested by 123 sailors
from the most competitive 18 schools in the nation, the St. Mary’s Seahawks
had won the title for the third time in school history.
A-Division was up first and Yale’s junior skipper Thomas Barrows (St.
Thomas, USVI), alternating crew between sophomore Blair Belling (Newport
Beach, Calif.) and junior Marla Menninger (Newport Beach, Calif.), posted
finishes of 9-2 to eliminate the seven-point lead St. Mary’s had over Yale
when the day started. St. Mary’s junior skipper Jesse Kirkland (Warwick,
Bermuda), with crew sophomores Madeline Jackson (Bainbridge Island, Wash.)
and Megan Magill (San Diego, Calif.), finished 13-5, and while the schools
were now tied on points, St. Mary’s had the edge on a tie-break.
The lead then took another swing as St. Mary’s regained ground over Yale
after the first set in B-Division put them ahead 157 to 166, before a photo
finish in A-Division’s final race of the day, during which Yale and St.
Mary’s rounded every mark 1-2, went to Yale and moved the Elis back into the
lead 169-172. It was now down to B-Division to settle the score.
With the breeze gusting into the 20s, St. Mary’s sophomore skipper Michael
Menninger (Newport Beach, Calif.) and senior crew Jennifer Chamberlain
(Alexandria, Va.) posted a 6-1 to the 14-16 of Yale’s freshman skipper
Joseph Morris (Annapolis, Md.) with junior crew Michael Hession (Milton,
Mass.), earning St. Mary’s the win by 20 points over Yale.
“It was a little too exciting for the coaches,” said St. Mary’s coach Adam
Werblow joking that his heart had to be restarted a few times. “Our
B-Division team had a rough start in the second-to-last race, but then won
the start in the last race had a clear lane and were able to go fast. Yale
battled really hard. We thought we could hang with them in A and beat them
in B. We were blessed. We brought seven, all seven sailed and they worked
really hard, prepared for this venue and did enough right to win.”
Rounding out the top five finishers were Georgetown University (Washington,
D.C.) in third with 231 points, followed by Old Dominion (Norfolk, Va.) with
262 and Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) with 315. Complete results
are available at http://www.collegesailing.org/nas/spring09/coedresults.asp
The Format: In the ICSA/Gill National Championship each school fields a
separate A and B division team with, weather permitting, each division
sailing 20- to 30-minute fleet races in rotation. A team’s final score is
determined by the combined results of its sailors in A and B divisions.
Stanford University co-hosted the championship with St. Francis Yacht Club,
with racing taking place from the club utilizing Stanford’s fleet of FJs.
Yale University Wins
2009 ICSA Women’s National Championship
San Francisco, Calif. (May 27, 2009) – Yale University has won the 2009 Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Women’s Championship for the second time in school history, repeating a feat the Elis first accomplished in 2004. Coming into the final day of the championship Yale led the overall standings by just six points over Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.). However, by the second race of the morning, it was apparent that senior skipper Jane Macky (Auckland, New Zealand) and junior crew Marla Menninger (Newport Beach, Calif.) were doing their utmost to keep the title within their grasp. Putting together a 4-1-1-7-2-2-1-1 scoreline today, they moved from third to first in A-Division, while their teammates, senior Kate Hagemann (Marion, Mass./Naples, Fla.) and junior Sarah Lihan (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), with sophomore Liz Brim (New York, N.Y.) and juniors Grace Becton (Deer Isle, Maine) and Rebecca Jackson (Newton, Mass.), struggled in B-Division and dropped from second to seventh.
“It was down to the last race,” said Head Coach Zach Leonard. “Conditions were very windy and challenging and we didn’t have a heavy air crew for A-Division so Jane and Marla sailed every race. They worked so hard. To come through right at the end when they were exhausted and to see them handle the pressure and win is just great.”
In the end, Yale’s combined score of 148 points was nine points better than College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.) who had moved from fifth to second overall as a three-way battle that included ODU went back and forth over the course of the racing. ODU was second for much of the day, but double-digit finishes in the final two races in A-Division paved the way for both Charleston and Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) to sneak by. After hammering the competition in B-Division, BC finished third overall with 165 points — just one point ahead of ODU with 166. Brown University rounds out the top-five with 197 points. Complete scores are available at: http://www.collegesailing.org/nas/spring09/womensresults.asp
Conditions on the race course were chilly, to say the least. Air temps of 53 degrees and water temps of 55 degrees and the threat of stronger breeze for the day led many of the teams to go with their heavy air crew as a lighter downwind flood meant more wind across the sails from the start of racing.
Stanford University and St. Francis Yacht Club are co-hosts of the championship, with sponsor support from Luminaria Medispa. Each school fields a separate A and B division team and, weather permitting, each division sails 20- to 30-minute fleet races in rotation. A team’s final score is determined by the combined results of its sailors in A and B divisions.
Boston College Wins
2009 ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship
Eagles Successfully Defend Championship Title
San Francisco, Calif. (May 31, 2009) – The Boston College Sailing Team has won the 2009 ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship, successfully defending the title won a year ago on Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay, marking the third collegiate sailing national title the Eagles have won in school history.
For three days, the top 14 schools in the nation – as determined by their performance in one of the seven Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association conferences to which they belong – raced for the championship title from the Treasure Island Sailing Center hosted by California Maritime Academy and the University of California, Berkeley. The event pits each college’s three-boat team against another’s in a round-robin series of matches and starts with the 14 teams divided into two groups. The top four finishers from Group 1 and 2 move on to the “elite eight”
(a.k.a. the Gold Round), before the “final four” to determine the champion.
In Group 1, Georgetown University’s win of the first race of the event started the Hoyas on a winning streak which saw them conclude round one undefeated. Also moving on to the next round from Group 1 were College of Charleston, Harvard University and Yale University, all with 4-2 records.
Racing in Group 2 got really interesting on the second day of competition after St. Mary’s College (6-0) and Boston College (5-1) qualified to move on while Stanford University, University of South Florida and SUNY Maritime College went into triple overtime to break a three-way tie. Ultimately, while USF lost the battle and Stanford and SUNY moved on to race in the elite eight, USF would go on to win the consolation round with a 5-0 record.
By the conclusion of the Gold Round only BC, St. Mary’s, Georgetown and Yale remained in contention for the title. And when the dust settled, the 13-4 record amassed by the BC Eagles had won them the title. (Final standings for the final four: St. Mary’s 12-6, Georgetown 10-7 and Yale 9-8.) Complete results are available at: http://www.collegesailing.org/nas/spring09/teamraceresults.asp
Senior skippers Brian Kamilar (Miami, Fla.) and Adam Roberts (San Diego, Calif.) sailed every race for the Eagles, while Taylor Canfield (St. Thomas, USVI) ‘11, Parker Dwyer (Stuart, Fla.) ’09 and Tyler Sinks (San Diego, Calif.) ’11 split up the skipper duties in BC’s third boat. Crewing were seniors Carrie Amarante (Wayne, N.J.), Lauren Gilloly (Wyckoff, N.J.) and Andrew Schneider (Newport, R.I.), juniors Evan Cooke (Andover, Mass.), Christian Manchester (Barrington, R.I.) and Sandy Williams (Chicago, Ill.), and sophomore Danny Bloomstine (Erie, Penn.).
Up Next: The centerpiece of the three Intercollegiate Sailing Association national championships, the ICSA/Gill National Championship will be held June 1-3, hosted by Stanford University and St. Francis Yacht Club, with racing taking place from the club.
