Brown wins College Women’s Nationals

Newport, RI (May 24, 2019) – The final day of the Sperry College Sailing Women’s National Championship was proving day for Brown University as they climbed past Harvard to win the national title and Gerald C. Miller Trophy.

As the winds held a steady 18 to 22 knots with higher gusts around 28 knots from a north-northwest direction, it was a gut-check as the high winds fought the current in the harbor to build a significant chop for the 6 races completed in each division. Today the sailors only raced in the Z420s to better manage the high winds sailing one set on and one set off.

Going into the racing today the top five teams were close with Harvard University leading until around races 13 and 14 in A-division when Brown had two first place finishes and took over the lead. Harvard fought hard to hold onto second place as Yale University had a stellar day climbing their way up to third place from fifth place yesterday.

Yale won the Ann Campbell Trophy for finishing in third place overall.

“It was a great day today and no one gave up,” says Bill Healy associate head coach for Yale. “Whoever could keep flat upwind and manage the downwind upright finished well in the racing today. We were confident in our heavy air sailing and the girls wanted to see how high they could climb.

“We did a good job conserving energy when we could, especially having a set off helped. We got pretty close to second, which came as a surprise to the sailors when they got off the water.”

Sailing for Yale was Louisa Nordstrom ’20 with Claudia Loiacono ’21, Graceann Nicolosi ’20, and Kathryn Clulo ’21 in A-division and Christine Klingler ’20 with Kira Woods ’19 and Catherine Mollerus ’21 in B-division.

Winning the Kleckner Trophy was Harvard finishing in second place overall.

“Brown was the best team out there,” says Bern Noack, assistant coach for Harvard. “We had a great regatta and we sailed hard and we worked hard. The conditions were tough today and we had a couple of mistakes and those mistakes are big in that much wind. Taylor Gavula and her crew Emily Wang had no idea that they had won B-division by one point when they sailed in, so that was a nice surprise.

“We also had an injury to one of our A-division crews, Liliana Cunningham, who briefly dislocated her shoulder when her boat capsized, but managed to sail through the pain and finish the race in second place. I am really proud of how the team sailed in these windy conditions – they gained experience quickly and improved throughout the day. The women were very resilient.”

Sailing for Harvard was Emma Kaneti ’22 with Emma Jakobson ’21, Jessica Williams ’20, and Liliana Cunningham ’22 in A-division and Taylor Gavula ’19 with Emily Wang ’21 and Tess Avery ’21 in B-division.

The Sperry Women’s National Champion and winners of the Gerald C. Miller Trophy is #1 ranked Brown University. This is the fifth time that the school has won this title; the last time was in 1998.

“We like breeze and we work hard to condition for it,” says John Mollicone, head coach for Brown. “We felt ready for the racing today. We have really good crews in breeze and solid skippers.

“After getting disqualified in an A-division race yesterday it was a set back, but we knew if we stayed the course we could win. We did an awesome job executing today and towards the end of the day we kept our eye on Harvard because they were very fast.”

Sailing for Brown was Ragna Agerup ’20 with Madeleine McGrath ‘22, Maxine De Havenon ’19, and Emma Montgomery ’22 in A-division and Hannah Steadman ’20 and Sophie Hibben ’19 with Annabelle Hutchinson ’21, Emma Montgomery ’22, and Maxine De Havenon ’19 in B-division.

Brown’s Agerup, McGrath, De Havenon, and Montgomery won the Madeleine Trophy, awarded to the low-point A-division team. They finished with 84 points, sixteen points ahead of the second place pairing from Harvard.

A-Division winners.

Harvard’s Gavula with Wang and Avery won the Judy Lawson Trophy, awarded to the low-point B-division team. They finished with 99 points, just one point ahead of the second place pairing from the overall winning school, Brown.

B-Division winners.

Racing continues tomorrow with the LaserPerformance Team Race National Championship, which will take place over the next three days on Newport Harbor. The top sixteen collegiate team racing teams will report for racing starting tomorrow at 10 a.m.

Final Results (16 races)
1. Brown University, 184
2. Harvard University, 199
3. Yale University, 214
4. George Washington University, 231
5. Boston College, 234
6. Dartmouth College, 260
7. University of Pennsylvania, 282
8. College of Charleston, 299
9. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 307
10. Boston University, 310
11. Stanford University, 335
12. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 350
13. Georgetown University, 351
14. University of South Florida, 369
15. Cornell University, 370
16. University of Rhode Island, 380
17. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 380
18. Bowdoin College, 414

Event details – Results – Facebook

2019 Spring Nationals
May 21-24 – Women’s Dinghy
May 25-27 – Team Race
May 28-31 – Coed Dinghy

Live coverage will include:
May 23, half day of Women’s coverage.
May 24, full day of Women’s coverage and awards.
May 25, half to 3/4 day of Team Race coverage, release of Women’s recap video.
May 26, full day of Team Race coverage.
May 27, full day of Team Race coverage and awards.
May 28, release of Team Racing recap video.
May 29, full day of Coed coverage.
May 30, full day of Coed coverage.
May 31, full day of Coed coverage and awards.
June 3, release of Coed recap video.

For live coverage… click here.

The 2018-19 season for the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) held the Match Racing Nationals and Singlehanded Nationals during the fall season, with the final three national titles on May 21 to 31 in Newport, RI.