It was the final day of Semifinals racing in the Gill College Sailing Coed National Championships, hosted by Brown University with support from Dartmouth College and NEISA. The competition has been narrowed down to the top 18 teams, who will advance to racing in the finals tomorrow morning out of host site Sail Newport Sailing Center at Fort Adams.
Today was the lightest breeze day overall in the national championship series. The winds started strong in the morning up to about 12 knots from the north, but lightened up in the day. The winds were oscillating and right when it was getting to be too light at the end of the day, pressure built up again for the last races.
Hobart and William Smith Colleges held onto their lead from yesterday throughout the day today. Their A-division team placed in the top three in every race today and B-division stayed in the top ten, giving them a solid lead in front of second place team Yale University. Yale moved up from third place yesterday and Boston College finished the day in third place overall, moving up from fourth place yesterday.
Sailing for Hobart and William Smith is: Hector Guzman ‘20, Jake Vickers '22, Charles Carraway '22 and Maya Weber '20 in A-division and Charles Miller '19, Aidan Morgan '21, Kyle Easton '20 and Lindsey Kloc '19 in B-division.
“We were able to sail a lot of different people today,” says Bill Healy, associate head coach for Yale. “We got to rest some people and also keep others fresh in the racing today. We want to do what we have been practicing all year tomorrow, and that is focus on the important stuff on the course and block distractions.”
“We hope to sail a clean regatta like Hobart and William Smith just did – stay out of trouble and stay out front,” says Healy. “The best sailors in the country will be racing tomorrow, so it will be tight races.”
Sailing for Yale is: Nicholas Baird '19, Sonia Lingos-Utley ‘21, Louisa Nordstrom '20, Kira Woods '19, Graceann Nicolosi '20, Catherine Webb '22, Shawn Harvey ‘21, Christine Klingler '20, Nicolas Hernandez '19 and Claudia Loiacono '21.
Going into the final B-set of the day Stanford University, U.S. Naval Academy and Brown University all had tied points in the top three. After the two races Stanford finished on top of the Eastern fleet just two points ahead of Brown in second and St. Mary’s College of Maryland finished in third place. Navy was involved in a protest and disqualified from race 11B, dropping them to fifth in the standings.
“It was great to sail a number of different people and get the win,” says Clinton Hayes, interim head coach for Stanford. “In general we had very good starts and stayed out of trouble, no circles.”
“I’m not sure how well anything we learned [in the semifinals] will translate to the finals,” says Hayes. “Tomorrow is a different forecast and the finals sail a lot differently than the semis since they are so much more competitive.”
Sailing for Stanford is: Jacob Rosenberg '20, Meg Gerli '19, Romain Screve '21, Kathryn Booker '19 and Sammy Pickell '22 in A-division and Wiley Rogers '22, Mathew Hogan '21, Telis Athanasopoulos Yogo '22, Victoria Thompson '21 and Taylor Kirkpatrick '20 in B-division.
“Overall it was a solid regatta for us,” says John Mollicone, Barry Family director of sailing and head coach for Brown. “Our women’s team sailing in B-division did really well, Ragna Agerup [Quantum Women’s Sailor of the Year] had a stellar day and Hannah Steadman who came in the last set did great. As well our A-division, Patrick Shanahan and Julia Reynolds, were consistent.”
“Tomorrow the starting line will get a lot harder,” says Mollicone. “It will be the biggest challenge for us, and probably many teams, to get off the line well. Our boat speed and decision making is okay, so we will focus on getting off the line and executing our local knowledge of the current.”
Sailing for Brown is: Patrick Shanahan '19 with Julia Reynolds '21 in A-division and Ragna Agerup '20, Davis Tantillo '19, Hannah Steadman '20, Maxine De Havenon '19, Madeleine McGrath '22 and Emily Ito '19 in B-division.
The scoreboard is wiped clean for the finals tomorrow. The first warning for racing is at 10 a.m. The sailors will compete for the national title and the Henry A. Morss Memorial Trophy for the next two days.
Top Nine Eastern Semifinals Final Results (14 races):
1. Stanford University, 157
2. Brown University, 159
3. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 176
4. Boston University, 179
5. U.S. Naval Academy, 188
6. Tufts University, 192
7. Dartmouth College, 209
8. Bowdoin College, 214
9. Jacksonville University, 226
Top Nine Western Semifinals Final Results (14 races):
1. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 102
2. Yale University, 145
3. Boston College, 150
4. College of Charleston, 160
5. Georgetown University, 186
6. Connecticut College, 193
7. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 194
8. Old Dominion University, 219
9. University of California at Santa Barbara, 259
To learn more about the teams competing in all of the events and to follow the racing and results visit the event website: https://2019nationals.collegesailing.org/
Dan Egan, of Degan Media, will provide some live coverage during the events, presenting sponsor is US Sailing and supporting sponsor of the live coverage is LaserPerformance, streaming from the event website.
Coed: May 30, full day coverage; May 31, full day coverage and awards; June 3, release of Coed recap.
Follow the events via the regatta app from US Sailing, learn how to sign up here: ICSA Nationals App
Additional social media updates will be available throughout the events on the regatta website.
Rob Migliaccio will be providing photos for these events.
Contact: Jennifer Mitchell |Toile à Voile for ICSA | media@collegesailing.org | 970-216-7072 m.
The ICSA sponsors and partners through the 2018-19 season are: LaserPerformance (www.laserperformance.com), title sponsor of “LaserPerformance Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded National Championship”, title sponsor of “LaserPerformance College Sailing Team Race National Championship” and Official Boat Supplier of the ICSA Spring National Championships. Sperry (www.sperry.com), title sponsor of the “Sperry College Sailing Women’s National Championship”. Gill North American (gillna.com), title sponsor of “The Gill College Sailing National Championship”. Quantum Sail Design Group (www.quantumsails.com), official sponsor of the “Quantum Women’s College Sailor of the Year”. Marlow Ropes (www.marlowropes.com), presenting sponsor of the “Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year Award” and “Official Rope of College Sailing”. US Sailing (www.ussailing.org), “The Robert H. Hobbs Sportsman of the Year Sponsored by US Sailing” and “The 2019 College Sailing Live Coverage Presented by US Sailing”. Professional Boats (www.professionalboats.com/), official sponsor of the 2019 ICSA Spring National Championships.