Coast Guard Wins College Women’s Nationals

San Diego, CA (May 27, 2016) – The final day of the Sperry Women’s National Championship began close to 10:30 a.m., with westerly winds of 5-8 knots offering the spottiest day of the series. The sailors completed eight races today to complete total of 18 races in each division for the event.

Going into today’s competition the U.S. Coast Guard Academy had a significant lead over the rest of the fleet, as did Brown University behind them in second place. Boston University was also solidly in third place.

The close competition continued all day with a bit of a battle for third place between the University of Rhode Island and Boston University. URI made a big come back in racing today having finished yesterday in seventh place, the sailors worked their way up to third place for a short time, but eventually fell back to fourth place.

Boston University took third place winning the Ann Campbell Trophy.

Sailing for BU was Hannah Polster ’17 with Margaret Swanson ’16 and Lexi Pline ’19 in A-division and Lydia Grasberger ’18 with Meredith Harrington ’18 in B-division.

Brown University finished in second place winning the New England Women’s Trophy.

“We are excited,” says John Mollicone, head coach for Brown. “I think we exceeded people’s expectations because these were not really our conditions. We like 420s and breeze, not usually light winds, chop and FJs.

“We were able to close the gap a little bit between us and Coast Guard. But it became pretty clear that no one was going to catch them and we were pretty comfortable in second place, so it took some of the pressure off of the racing today.

“The conditions for this event were the ones we struggled with the most this year, so I am really proud of the girls for sailing so well.”

Sailing for Brown was Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick ’17 with Courtney Bergh ’16 in A-division and Lindsey Baab ’18 with Haley Carter ’17 in B-division.

The Sperry Women’s National Champions and winners of the Gerald C. Miller Trophy is the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Coast Guard took the lead at the start of the regatta and never gave it up. The women sailed smart and fast and it paid off for the whole event.

“Today we were confident and sharp,” says Brian Swingly, head coach for Coast Guard. “We didn’t ever relax and we continued to take the event race by race. Brown sailed really well today, so we were keeping our eye on them.

“We have never won Women’s Nationals. So this is a special moment for us. We have won regattas, but not a Nationals, we have been slowly building to this point and we feel we are here to stay.”

Sailing for Coast Guard is Nikole Barnes ’17 with Anna Morin ’19 in A-division and Dana Rohde ’18 with Hannah Herring ‘18 in B-division.

After racing, awards were presented at the San Diego Port Pier, for the top teams and also for the first place finishers in each division. Nikole Barnes ’17 and Anna Morin ’19 won the Madeleine Trophy, awarded to the low-point A- division team. They finished with 60 points total, an impressive 50 points ahead of the second place pairing from Dartmouth College.

“Most races we would round the first windward mark in seventh or eighth and we had to work really hard and plan the down winds carefully,” Barnes says of never letting up during the regatta. “We always followed our pre-race routine and it allowed us to figure out the racecourse before other teams. Having more information helped make me less nervous during the racing.”

Lydia Grasberger ’18 and Meredith Harrington ’18 from Boston University won the Judy Lawson Trophy, awarded to the low-point B-division team. They finished with 94 points total and were four points ahead of the second place pairing from Brown University.

Racing will continue in the Spring Intercollegiate National Sailing Championships with the LaserPerformance Team Race National Championship, which will take place May 28-30 on North San Diego Bay.

Women’s Final Overall Results
1. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 204
2. Brown University, 244
3. Boston University, 282
4. University of Rhode Island, 296
5. Yale University, 303
6. Dartmouth College, 306
7. University of Vermont, 317
8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 319
9. Stanford University, 346
10. George Washington University, 359
11. Bowdoin College, 367
12. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 382
13. Boston College, 391
14. University of Wisconsin, 392
15. University of California Santa Barbara, 400
16. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 404
17. College of Charleston, 408
18. Georgetown University, 436

Event details – Scoreboard – Photos – Livestream – Facebook

1st Place, U.S. Coast Guard Academy

2nd Place, Brown University

3rd Place, Boston University

Background: The Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s three spring 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 24-June 3, with schools racing Club and Collegiate FJs on San Diego Bay in San Diego, CA. The three events will be co-hosted by San Diego Yacht Club and the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference.

Source: ICSA