College Nationals: Top 8 advance to second round of Team Race Champs

St. Mary’s City, MD (June 1, 2014) – After racing for the APS Team Race National Championship began on Saturday, the 16 collegiate teams returned today to the St. Mary’s River to complete the opening elimination round that advances the top eight teams.

The sailors went out to race at 9:30 a.m. in light winds about 5-8 knots from the northeast and the race officials were able to get a few races off, but the wind slowly died and the competitors came into shore to wait for more wind to fill in. After a few hour delay on shore, a southerly sea breeze around 5-10 knots, filled in and racing continued. Teams sailed under sunny skies and temperatures were in the 70s.

The first round with all 16 teams was completed today. There were 18 races left in the round and places 9-16 was determined as well as the top eight teams, who advanced to the next round of racing. Sailors competed in both FJs and Z420s on a digital N course in the first round, but the rest of the rounds will be sailed in only FJs. The scores from each round carry over to the next.

Yale University and St. Mary’s College of Maryland led after day one and they advanced into the top eight on top as well. Yale made it through with only one loss and St. Mary’s made it through with three losses. The U.S. Naval Academy also moved through in the same spot, third place, beating Roger Williams University and Boston College in a score tiebreaker.

Other movement in the top eight came from Stanford University who was in ninth yesterday, but won their two races in the first round today and moved up to eighth place.

First Round Robin Results (wins and losses)
1. Yale University, 14-1
2. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 12-3
3. U.S. Naval Academy, 11-4
4. Roger Williams University, 11-4
5. Boston College, 11-4
6. Tufts University, 10-5
7. Georgetown University, 10-5
8. Stanford University, 10-5
9. College of Charleston, 9-6
10. University of South Florida, 6-9
11. Old Dominion University, 4-11
12. University of Michigan, 4-11
13. University of Wisconsin, 4-11
14. University of California at Santa Barbara, 3-12
15. University of Washington, 1-14
16. Texas A&M University at Galveston, 0-15

The race officials continued to run through races today and did an incredible job keeping things moving. The umpires made more calls on the water this afternoon, as the level of racing got more difficult between the teams. Racing wrapped up around 6:30 p.m.

Momentum was the name of the game in the top eight racing. Yale continues to hold onto their lead with only one loss so far that they suffered in the first round robin. They are undefeated in the top eight with three more races to go in the round. Stanford University and Georgetown University both fought to make it into the top this afternoon and their hard work paid off as they rose higher on the scoreboard. Eighteen races were completed today in the top eight round.

“We started great and had good boat speed,” says Bill Healy, assistant coach for Yale. “This afternoon we did have races that we were over early in, but we were able to convert a losing 1,5,6 combination to a 2,3,4 or other winning combination pretty quickly.”

The key to Yale’s success today was “Not panicking when we got into trouble,” Healy says. “We take it one race at a time, things are flowing well and everyone is in a good mood,” he says. The final four is just around the corner and Healy says, “The racing is only going to get more difficult.”

Sailing for Yale is: Ian Barrows ’17, Graham Landy ’15, Christopher Segerblom ’14, Amanda Salvesen ’14, Marlena Fauer ’14, Eugenia Custo Greig ’14, Charlotte Belling ’16 and Katherine Gaumond ’15.

Home team and host school, St. Mary’s, suffered three losses today in the top eight round against difficult teams, but they are holding onto a third place spot after today’s racing. They will face top team Yale and Roger Williams tomorrow.

Sailing for St. Mary’s is: Fletcher Sims ’14, Joshua Greenslade ’14, John Wallace ’14, Kelley Merryman ’14, Nicole DeAngeli ’14 and Allison Shane ’15.

After a tough start to the regatta, Stanford carried momentum from their wins this morning to move them into second place after the day’s racing.

“The team really came together and dealt with adversity well,” says John Vandemoer, head coach for Stanford University. “We had a rough start, but the team leaned on each other and believed in our ability.”

There is more racing to come and Stanford still needs to land a spot in the final four. Like Yale’s plan of attack, Vandemoer says, “We are taking it one race at a time and the whole team is contributing including our team at home.”

Sailing for Stanford is: Kevin Laube ’14, Mateo Vargas ’14, Kieran Chung ’15, Hans Henken ’15, Yuri Namikawa ’14, Tally Buckstaff ’14, Haley Kirk ’15 and Mary Vangelos ’17.

Racing will conclude tomorrow with 10 more races to go in the top eight round robin. Once the top four have been determined the final round robin of the championship will begin and a national champion will be named. The first warning for racing tomorrow is at 9:20 a.m. and no race can start after 5 p.m. An awards ceremony for the competitors will be held after racing at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

Live coverage: http://2014nationals.collegesailing.org
Event website: http://2014nationals.collegesailing.org/aps-team-race-championship

Top Eight Results (wins and losses)
1. Yale University, 18-1
2. Stanford University, 14-6*
3. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 14-6**
4. U.S. Naval Academy, 13-6 b
5. Boston College, 13-6**
6. Georgetown University, 13-7
7. Roger Williams University, 11-8
8. Tufts University, 11-9
* Number of races won when tied teams met (2)
** Number of races won when tied teams met (0)
b Number of races won when tied teams met (1)

Follow the Live coverage, sponsored by LaserPerformance, with streaming video of the racing and commentary from John Pearce, Hobart College ’04, Nick Ewenson, St. Mary’s College of Maryland ’04, Becca Dellenbaugh, Dartmouth College ‘10 and Dan Eagan. Also stay tuned to watch their post-racing wrap-up each day. Click on “Live Coverage” on the event website, http://2014nationals.collegesailing.org/.

The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) is the governing authority for sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada. Visit www.collegesailing.org to learn more.

Report by college media. Photo by Tom Brewer.

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