Ragna Agerup earns Sailor of the Year

Newport, RI (May 24, 2019) – The Quantum Women’s Sailor of the Year and Women’s All-Americans and Honorable Mentions were announced during an awards presentation following racing in the Sperry College Sailing Women’s National Championship at Sail Newport Sailing Center.

Ragna Agerup

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.

Dawn Riley, the first woman to manage an entire America’s Cup syndicate, the first American, man or woman, to sail in three America’s Cups and two Whitbread Round the World races, helped to present the award on behalf of Quantum Sail Design Group.

There were three finalists this year: Alie Toppa, College of Charleston ‘20; Louisa Nordstrom, Yale University ‘20; and Ragna Agerup, Brown University ‘20. All three finalists had an accomplished year of college sailing, competing not just in women’s events but many coed and team race events finishing at the top of their fleets. The winner by the numbers was Ragna Agerup.

Agerup had an incredible year of competition capped by winning A-division in the 2019 Sperry College Sailing Women’s National Championship Semifinals (Eastern) and Finals.

“I am really psyched for Ragna,” says John Mollicone, sailing director and head coach at Brown. “She has been the best female skipper all year, but she is also our coed B-division skipper and a team race skipper, so she did not sail as many women’s events.

“She is an Olympian and competed in the 2016 Rio Games for Norway in the 49erFX, so she is talented and driven…she is a real competitor and fierce.”

Agerup started sailing at a young age at eight years old in an Optimist and then moving onto the 29er and 49erFX, partnering in Rio with twin sister Maia who sails for Boston University.

“Winning this award feels surreal,” says Agerup. “I didn’t expect it going into nationals – I am letting it sink in.” Agerup has one more year of college and is studying computer science.

“I wanted to take a break from Olympic sailing and get my degree,” she says, “but after I graduate I will keep sailing – it is really hard to stay away from sailing.”

The Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) also announced the 2018-19 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: MAISA: Ian Burman (chair), Brian Clancy; MCSA: Geoff Pedrick; NEISA: David Thompson, Stan Schreyer; NWICSA: Scott Wilson; PCCSC: Blaine Pedlow; SAISA: Ward Cromwell; SEISA: Charles Higgins.

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. However, this year with so many exceptional sailing, the executive committee expanded the total to 17. This year the committee selected eight All-American skippers and nine Honorable Mentions.

Honorable Mention Skippers

ICSA Honorable Mention Women’s All-American Skippers:
Bailey Carter (Winter Park, Fla.), Hobart & William Smith ‘19
Audrey Giblin (Monmouth Beach, N.J.), Dartmouth College ‘20
Emily Haig (Beach Haven, N.J.), Massachusetts of Technology ‘21
Sophie Hibben (Concord, Mass.), Brown University ‘19
Annie Hughes (Guilford, Conn.), Massachusetts Institute of Technology ‘19
Emma Kaneti (Larchmont, N.Y.), Harvard University ‘22
Riley Legault (Bonita Spring, Fla.), George Washington University ‘19
Gabby Rizika (Chestnut Hill, Mass.), Cornell University ‘20
Emma White (Annapolis, Md.), Dartmouth College ‘19

All-American Skippers

ICSA Women’s All-American Skippers:
Maia Agerup (Oslo, Norway), Boston University ‘20
Ragna Agerup (Oslo, Norway), Brown University ‘20
Christine Klingler (Larchmont, N.Y.), Yale University ‘20
Isabella Loosbrock (Excelsior, Minn.), Boston College ‘19
Louisa Nordstrom (Sarasota, Fla.), Yale University ‘20
Sophia Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Boston College ‘21
Hannah Steadman (St. Petersburg, Fla.), Brown University ‘20
Alie Toppa (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), College of Charleston ‘20

Quantum Women’s Sailor of the Year:
Ragna Agerup (Oslo, Norway), Brown University ‘20

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.