BC wins College Match Race Nationals

With ten team competing in Sonars, Boston College won the 2024 College Match Race National Championship held November 15-17 in Oyster Bay, NY. BC blanked Brown 3-0 in the Final match, with Coast Guard topping Stanford 2-1 in the Petit Final. BC was led by Michael Kirkman ’25 with crew Peter Busch ’26, Sophia Hacket ’25, and Peter Joslin ’26. – Details

ICSA report:
After an impressive undefeated performance on the final day of competition, the Boston College Eagles (BC) earned The 2024 College Sailing Match Race National Championship! Competition for The Cornelius Shields Sr. Trophy was fierce this year as ten collegiate teams battled in dynamic conditions over the course of a three day competition hosted by Oyster Bay, New York’s Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club.

“Having to do a five-way tiebreaker just to get into the quarter finals was challenging,” said regatta organizer Robyn Philip-Norton. “But it meant the competition was great and at a really high level.”

At times the wind was up, testing teams on their endurance, but as the breeze gradually came down over the remainder of the event, boat-handling and speed became top priorities.

The Boston College team, the third seed going into the knockout rounds, managed back-to-back wins against Tulane in the quarter finals and against Stanford in the semifinals before facing the regatta’s top seed and defending champions, The Brown University Bears.

“Our winning strategy was [focusing on] fleet racing and trying to do the least amount of match racing we had to do,” said BC’s skipper Michael Kirkman. “We tried to just avoid all other boats and sail in a straight line as fast as we could.”

The Eagles’ last appearance at College Sailing Match Race Nationals finals was in 2018 when the team earned the victory for the second National Match Race Championship in as many years. Since then, the Eagles have struggled to make it out of the competitive district qualifiers.

When asked how it felt to win back the Shields Trophy, Boston College Head Coach Greg Wilkinson said he couldn’t be more proud of the team, including alumnus Wade Waddell who skippered the BC team in 2018 after crewing during their 2017 win, and who coached this year’s winning team.

“It feels great,” said BC skipper Kirkman. “It was our first time here for all of us…we’ve been stuck in the qualifiers for the past couple of years, so it really feels great to just be here, let alone get the win.”

Final Standings:
1. Boston College – Michael Kirkman, Peter Busch, Sophia Hacket, and Peter Joslin
2. Brown University – Guthrie Braun, Camren Spriggs, Katherine McNamara, Charles Gish
3. U.S. Coast Guard Academy – Colman Schofield, Laura Slovensky, Jack Derry, Charlie Pohl
4. Stanford University – Chapman Petersen, Alice Schmid, Thomas Sitzmann, Luke Woodworth
5. Yale University – Jack Egan, Emma Cowles, Alex Adams, Mathias Reimer
6. U.S. Naval Academy – Nathan Smith, Tanner Kelly, Kyle Reinecke
7. Tulane University – Kelly Holthus, Zander King, Martha Hughes, Brady Starck
8. Harvard University – Justin Callahan, Mitchell Callahan, Kate Danielson, Robby Meek
9. College of Charleston – Axel Stordahl, Dylan Garcia, Andrea Melnik, Garrett Grenauer
10. University of Chicago – Max Zhalilo, James Leavitt, Eliot Hack, Anya Zakharov

2024-25 Season

Fall National Championships:
November 9-10: Women’s and Open Singlehanded Nationals – St Petersburg, FL
November 15-17: Match Race Nationals – Oyster Bay, NY

Spring National Championships:
Open Team Race Nationals
Women’s Team Race Nationals
Women’s Dinghy Nationals
Open Dinghy Nationals