Field set for College Women’s Finals

Published on May 23rd, 2018

Norfolk, VA (May 23, 2018) – Racing continued today on the Elizabeth River out of the Old Dominion Sailing Center in the second day of the Sperry Women’s Semifinals.

Thirty-six collegiate sailing teams from across the nation qualified to compete in these Semifinals to determine the top 18 teams who will advance to the Finals, which begin tomorrow at 10 a.m. The 36 teams are divided into two fleets of 18 teams, Western and Eastern Semifinal groups, the top nine from each fleet will make up the 18 teams who compete in the final championship.

Today the Eastern and Western fleets sailed in FJs and Z420s on windward leeward courses with four legs. B-division completed six races today and A-division completed 4 for a total of 12 races for the regatta in both divisions and fleets.

The morning racing started around 10 a.m. with winds from the southwest around 10-14 knots. This breeze died into a light westerly and continued to shift right and die. There was a wind delay with FJs waiting on the water and 420s sailed into shore for about an hour.

A sea breeze filled in from the northeast at a steady 6-10 knots and continued for the rest of the afternoon. It was a warm day in the 80s. The cut off time for racing today was 5 p.m. and that is just about the time that B division finished their last race for the day.

Several protests were filed after racing and heard right away. These wrapped up around 6 p.m.

The top three teams in the Eastern fleet after yesterday’s racing changed a bit today with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University moving up, but Yale University maintained the lead by 19 points. The last team that made the cut for the top nine in this fleet is Connecticut College.

“Today went great,” says Bill Healy, associate head coach for Yale. “We had all sorts of wind and therefore lots of people sailing for us today and they all did their jobs perfectly.

“Our focus at the end of our season was starts, speed in Z420s and it seems like we are there. We will face the top schools in the finals, so it will be a tough battle. We will also focus on surviving dehydration in this heat and with fewer breaks in the finals to drink water.

“The race committee did a great job today managing the changing wind and timing the delay today, it makes it easier when the races are run well.”

Sailing for Yale is Casey Klingler ’18 with Katharina (KB) Knapp ’18 and Claudia Loiacono ’21 in A-division and Louisa Nordstrom ’20 with Graceann Nicolosi ’20, Claire Huebner ’18 and Catherine Mollerus ’21 in B-division.

The Western fleet shifted around a little bit after racing today with College of Charleston and Harvard University still in the top two spots, but the U.S. Coast Guard Academy came in third in front of University of South Florida beating them in a head-to-head tie breaker. Charleston finished with a 24-point lead today. The last team to qualify in this fleet is University of Pennsylvania.

“Racing went pretty well today,” says Mitch Hall, assistant coach for Charleston. “The girls were confident after racing yesterday and carried it into today.

“We suffered a little bit from fatigue again today, especially after the postponement, but we have learned from it. Our focus for the next two days won’t change very much. We will continue to sail smart, fast and consistently and of course have fun.”

Sailing for Charleston is Alie Toppa ’20 with Annabel Carrington ’19 in A-division and Paris Henken ’19 with Liza Toppa ’20 and Elizabeth Pemberton ’18 in B-division.

Tomorrow the scoreboard is wiped clean for the Finals and it’s anyone’s regatta to win. The competition will only be stronger in the Finals group. Racing is set to begin at 10 a.m. The top 18 teams will be competing for the Gerald C. Miller Trophy over the next two days.

Final Nine Teams Eastern Semifinal:
1. Yale University, 96
2. William Smith College, 115
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 135
4. Brown University, 142
5. Boston University, 153
6. University of Rhode Island, 159
7. Stanford University, 164
8. George Washington University, 184
9. Connecticut College, 231

Final Nine Teams Western Semifinal:
1. College of Charleston, 117
2. Harvard University, 141
3. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 146
4. University of South Florida, 146
5. Dartmouth College, 163
6. Boston College, 169
7. Georgetown University, 205
8. Cornell College, 209
9. University of Pennsylvania, 212

Event detailsEastern SemifinalsWestern Semifinals

The top nine teams from each fleet now advance to the Finals Round – an 18-boat regatta on May 24-25.

Follow the events live via the regatta app from US Sailing plus live video coverage on May 25 for the final day of racing.


Background: The ICSA is the governing authority for sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada. There are seven Conferences that schedule and administer regattas within their established geographic regions, with ICSA hosting two national championships in the fall (singlehanded, match racing) and three national championships in the spring (team, women’s, coed). collegesailing.org

2018 Spring Nationals – Norfolk, VA
5/22-25 – Women’s National Championship
5/26-28 – Team Race National Championship
5/29-6/1 – Coed National Championship

Source: Jennifer Mitchell |Toile à Voile for ICSA

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