College Nationals: Big Green takes Women’s title for Second Year

Annapolis, MD (May 30, 2014) – Today was the last day of racing for the Sperry Top-Sider Women’s National Championship on the Severn River at the U.S. Naval Academy. Eighteen women’s collegiate teams raced for the Gerald C. Miller Trophy and Dartmouth College came out the victor for the second year in a row.

The Big Green of Dartmouth entered the day, which started with an onshore postponement due to light winds, trailing the Yale Bulldogs by three points. While cloudy skies kept temperatures in the 60s, a light northerly at around 4 knots filled in and racing got underway.

After a set and a half the breeze died again and the teams went in for a long lunch break. By the afternoon temperatures rose to about 70 degrees with more sun in the sky and the winds shifted to the east remaining light Eventually winds shifted to a southerly direction, which was stable, but light again around 5 knots.

Today the divisions swapped boats again, A-division sailed in Z420s and B-division sailed in FJs. The sailors completed seven races today in both divisions on windward leeward courses with 4 legs for a total of 17 races in each division for the championship. The race committee was able to start the last race of the day minutes before the 5 p.m. racing time limit.

After an all-day battle, Yale finished second winning the New England Women’s Trophy. It was not until the fourth to last race of the day that Yale gave up their lead. They battled back and forth with Dartmouth and even had some leads in B-division, but they could not hang on to them.

“Dartmouth’s A-division was pretty much unbeatable today,” says Bill Healy, assistant coach for Yale. “We tried to stay as close as we could.”

Yale’s A-division suffered a few over-early starts and while Healy says their B-division did a fabulous job, in the end it was not enough to take home the win.

“It is bittersweet for us,” Healy says of finishing second. “Especially for the seniors who have worked hard for four years and wanted the win.”

Sailing for Yale was Morgan Kiss ’15 with Katherine Gaumond ’15 in A-division and Marlena Fauer ’14 with Eugenia Custo Greig ’14 and Charlotte Belling ’16 in B-division.

Winning the Women’s Championship title and the Gerald C. Miller Trophy for the second year in a row is Dartmouth. Deirdre Lambert ’15 with Avery Plough ’14 sailed in A-division and Kelsey Wheeler ’14 and Lizzie Guynn ’16 sailed in B-division. Lambert and Plough won four of the last five races helping their team to stay well ahead of Yale.

“We knew it was going to be a really tough day. Conditions were changing all of the time as they had been the whole regatta,” John Storck III, co-head coach for Dartmouth says. “There were two things we knew we had to do well. We had to start well and we had to be fast. So if we could control our destiny off of the starting line and be fast then we knew we would have a shot.”

Dartmouth did not talk about winning the event for the second year in a row, but Storck confessed, “We quietly all believed it was possible.”

This will be Storck’s last year coaching college sailing. “It’s been an amazing run with these girls and with this team and it’s something I am going to cherish for the rest of my life.

Lambert, Wheeler and Guynn were also part of the pairings that won the championship last year. This is the fourth time that Dartmouth has won the Sperry Top-Sider Women’s National Championship they also won in 1992, 2000 and 2013.

The home and host team, Navy, won the Ann Campbell Trophy for finishing the event in third place. The Navy women sailed consistently and were a well-balanced team. Sailing for Navy was Mary Hall ’15 with Elizabeth Morrison ‘14 in A-division and Marissa Lihan ’14 with Emma Ferris ’15 and Megan Hough ’16 in B-division.

After racing awards were presented at the Robert Crown Center for the top teams and also for the first place finishers in each division. Deirdre Lambert ’15 and Avery Plough ’14 from Dartmouth won the Madeleine Trophy, awarded to the low-point A- division team. They finished with 60 points total, 41 points ahead of the second place pairing.

Marlena Fauer ’14 with Eugenia Custo Greig ’14 and Charlotte Belling ’16 from Yale won the Judy Lawson Trophy, awarded to the low-point B-division team. They finished with 89 points total, 20 points ahead of the second place pairing.

Women’s Final Overall Results
1. Dartmouth College, 185
2. Yale University, 190
3. U.S. Naval Academy, 275
4. Old Dominion University, 276
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 286
6. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 291
7. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 296
8. College of Charleston, 305*
9. University of Rhode Island, 305*
10. Boston College, 328*
11. Eckerd College, 328*
12. Stanford University, 336
13. Bowdoin College, 359
14. Brown University, 381
15. University of Hawaii, 414
16. Georgetown University, 417
17. University of South Florida, 419
18. University of Wisconsin, 423
* Head-to-head tiebreaker

Full Results – Event Website

Racing will continue in the Spring Intercollegiate National Sailing Championships with the APS Team Racing National Championship, which will take place over the next three days at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Sixteen teams will report at 8:30 a.m. for a Competitor’s Briefing and the racing will follow.

Report by college media. Photos by Brian Schneider Photography

Background:
The fall and spring seasons of college racing focuses on six National Championships. In the Fall season were the Match Race Nationals and Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded Nationals. The Spring season closes out with the ICSA/Sperry Women’s Nationals (May 27-30), College Sailing/APS Team Race Championship (May 31-June 2), and the College Sailing/Gill Coed Championship (June 3-6). Nationals website: http://2014nationals.collegesailing.org