Erika Reineke named Women’s College Sailor of the Year

Mount Pleasant, SC (May 26, 2017) – The Quantum Women’s Sailor of the Year and Women’s All-American and Honorable Mention were announced during an awards presentation at the Sperry Women’s National Championship at the J. Stewart Walker Sailing Center home of the championships hosts College of Charleston Sailing Team.

The Quantum Women’s Sailor of the Year is awarded annually to an individual who has performed at the highest level of competition in district and national championships. The ICSA All-America committee evaluates with great detail all of the finalists’ results and calculates the winner.

Quantum believes that women sailors should receive the same recognition that male sailors receive in the sport to acknowledge their excellence in sailing and continue to foster the growth of women’s sailing.

The finalists this year were Nikole Barnes (St. Thomas, VI), U.S. Coast Guard Academy ’17, Rachel Bryer (Jamestown, R.I.), University of Rhode Island ’17, Casey Klingler (Larchmont, N.Y.), Yale University ’18 and Erika Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Boston College ‘17. All of these sailors have had an incredible year of competition and most of them have been named All-Americans in past years. Bryer was a finalist last year and Barnes was the 2016 winner. This year’s Quantum Women’s Sailor of the year is Erika Reineke.

Reineke has been a finalist for this award each year of her college sailing career, and this year she has earned the honor. She sailed well all year and also won the Women’s Singlehanded National Championship for the fourth time.

“I am super happy for Erika,” says Greg Wilkinson, head coach for Boston College. “She mentioned in her speech how she felt it was a team effort and I know that she really means that. She had a choice between continuing college sailing and moving on to Olympic sailing and she chose another year of college sailing, I think to gain a true team experience.”

“She joins a list of distinguished sailors who have earned this honor and she belongs with that group,” Wilkinson explains. “Especially to achieve it this year sailing against such a talented group of women.”

“As a freshman, I thought winning this would be the coolest honor, and it is, but now I realize that it is a team effort and I could not have done it with out them and I am very proud,” says Reineke.

“I am grateful for my team’s efforts in pushing me on the water and in the gym, it feels like a win for everyone. I grew up sailing singlehanded boats and the best part of college sailing is the team aspect and the selflessness that goes into it.”

“They are my extended family now,” she says. It was Reineke’s parents who signed her up for sailing classes when they joined their local yacht club to socialize and saw kids out sailing.

Reineke graduated this spring with a degree in environmental geosciences and plans to campaign for the summer 2020 Olympics in the Laser Radial.

The Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) also announced the 2015-16 Women’s All-America Team. The names of the winners will be added to the ICSA Hall of Fame displayed at the Robert Crown Center at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

A committee of representatives from the seven conferences in the ICSA selects the ICSA All-America Team. This year’s committee is: Ian Burman, U.S. Naval Academy; Adam Werblow, St. Mary’s College of Maryland; Dave Elsmo, University of Wisconsin-Madison; John Mollicone, Brown University; Frank Pizzo, Bowdoin College; John Vandemoer, Stanford University; Kyle Eaton (NWICSA); Zack Marks, University of South Florida; Blake Billman (SEISA); Mitch Brindley, Old Dominion University.

To select an All-American skipper, the committee evaluates a competitor based on their competitive record in inter-conference competition as well as conference and national championships. The committee analyzes how this record compares to fellow competitors, the quality of the competition the record was achieved in, and results achieved competing with different crews, the span of the record over the fall and spring seasons, and how the record compares to previous All-American winners.

The committee selects up to 10 Women All-American skippers and additional Honorable Mentions, together totaling no more than 15. This year the committee selected all 10 All-American skippers and five Honorable Mention.

ICSA Honorable Mention Women’s All-American Skippers:
Paris Henken (Coronado, Calif.), College of Charleston ‘19
Mary Claire Kiernan (Hinsdale, Ill.), Tufts University ‘17
Carolyn Smith (Newport Beach, Calif.), St. Mary’s College of Maryland ‘17
Alie Toppa (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), College of Charleston ‘20
Maeve White (Annapolis, Md.), Stanford University ‘17

Women’s Honorable Mention All-American Skippers

ICSA Women’s All-American Skippers:
Lindsey Baab (Saratoga, Calif.), Brown University ‘18
Nikole Barnes (St. Thomas, USVI), U.S. Coast Guard Academy ‘17
Rachel Bryer (Jamestown, R.I.), University of Rhode Island ‘17
Allyson Donahue (Brigantine, N.J.), Boston College ‘17
Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick (Darien, Conn.), Brown University ‘17
Casey Klingler (Larchmont, N.Y.), Yale University ‘18
Louisa Nordstrom (Sarasota, Fla.), Yale University ‘20
Hannah Polster (Arnold, Md.), Boston University ‘17
Erika Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Boston College ‘17
Dana Rohde (Richmond Hill, Ga.), U.S. Coast Guard Academy ‘18

Women’s All-American Skippers

Source: Jennifer Mitchell | Toile à Voile for ICSA