Boston College holds narrow lead at College Women’s Nationals

Newport, RI (May 27, 2015) – The Sperry Women’s National Championship continued today on Narragansett Bay, co-hosted by Brown University, Salve Regina University and New York Yacht Club. Eighteen collegiate teams advanced from the previous two days of competition in the semi-finals to make it to the finals racing. The teams are vying for the national title and the Gerald C. Miller Trophy.

Racing got underway at 9:30 a.m. and wrapped up just before 4 p.m. today. The temperature hovered around 70 degrees with a mix of sun and clouds. The winds stayed strong, much like yesterday. The morning started with southerly winds around 10-15 knots and slowly built to 15-20 knots. For the last races the wind was back down to around 15 knots.

Today A-division sailed Z420s and B-division sailed CFJs. Tomorrow the divisions will swap boats. The sailors are competing on windward leeward courses with three and four legs. Nine races were completed today in both A and B-division with nine races left in each division to complete the regatta.

Where the last two days of racing saw straight-line speed as a winning tactic, today the shifts and current played more of a role in addition to speed. Especially at the end of the day the strategy was to play the left side of the course to stay out of the current.

“There were definitely some shifts out there,” says Nancy Hagood ’14, the A-division skipper for Georgetown University. “It was about keeping your eyes open for those shifts, but where ever you were just going fast,” says Hagood. Hagood sailed with Meaghan MacRae ’18 and Madeline Higgins ’16 today and finished the day in third place on a tiebreaker in A-division. Georgetown is currently standing in sixth place overall.

Racing was close all day with teams moving up and down the scoreboard. After the first nine races, Boston College is in the lead just one point ahead of Brown University in second and two points ahead of Yale University in third.

“The field is really deep in both divisions,” says Greg Wilkinson, head coach of Boston College. “Today had a different feel than the previous two days of racing because there are that many more top sailors on the course,” he says.

“Where the top sailors could rely on speed to get back in a race if they fell behind, today it was more difficult,” Wilkinson says. The plan for tomorrow’s racing, “We are looking to perform,” he says.

Sailing for Boston College is Erika Reineke ’16 with Elizabeth Barnard ‘15 and Katja Sertl ’16 in A-division and Allyson Donahue ’17 with Emily Schalka ’15 and Madeleine Loosbrock ’17 in B-division.

“We had really long courses with big chop and tricky conditions,” says John Mollicone, head coach of Brown University and co-host of the event. “It was about weighing current versus velocity and shifts on the course today,” Mollicone says.

“The racing was really tight and there was room for leverage on both sides of the course,” says Mollicone. In Brown’s first race of the day they started in second and finished in 17th because they made a wrong decision on which side of the course to sail.

“We felt like we left a lot of points on the table today and we hope to clean it up tomorrow,” Mollicone says. “If we sail better tomorrow than we did today, we will do well in the regatta,” he says.

Sailing for Brown is Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick ’17 with Lydia Whiteford ’15 and Alexandra Swanson ’16 in A-division and Johanna Kincaid ’15 with Jessica O’Dell ’16 and Kelly McGlynn ’15 with Ragna Eide ’16 in B-division.

Racing is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. No race can begin after 5 p.m. The day will culminate in an awards ceremony and dinner scheduled right after racing hosted by Salve Regina University at the Sail Newport Sailing Center.

The top three women’s teams will be presented with the Gerald C. Miller Trophy for first place, the New England Women’s Trophy for second place and the Ann Campbell Trophy for third place. The Quantum Women’s College Sailor of the Year will also be awarded to a female sailor who has consistently performed at the highest competitive level in the 2014-2015 season.

Top Nine Teams, Finals Day 1
1. Boston College, 114
2. Brown University, 115
3. Yale University, 116
4. Dartmouth College, 127
5. College of Charleston, 131
6. Georgetown University, 139
7. University of Rhode Island, 141
8. Stanford University, 149
9. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 164

Finals results – Nationals details

Source: ICSA media

Background: The Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s three national championships, Sperry Women’s National Semi-Final and Final Championship, LaserPerformance Team Race National Championship, and the Gill Coed Dinghy National Semi-Final and Final Championship will be held May 25-June 4, with schools racing Z420s and Club FJs on the waters of Newport Harbor and Narragansett Bay in Newport, RI.