Charleston wins Team Race Nationals

Mount Pleasant, SC (May 28, 2017) – With an ominous forecast tomorrow, the LaserPerformance Team Race National Championship finished a day early with the home team College of Charleston winning the title.

The day began with completing the first round of 16 teams with winds from the southwest at around 7 knots and temperatures in the 80s. Places 9-16 were determined and the round robin for the top eight began midday with all scores carrying over. The wind increased to about 8-10 knots in the next round.

Twenty-seven races were completed in that round, with tight competition continuing. Places 5-8 were determined and after a break, racing continued with the final four around 5:30 p.m in about 7 knots. A total of 154 races were completed in the event.

Teams were trying to fight their way into the final four, with Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the U.S. Naval Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University missing the cut.

Going into the final four, Charleston was still leading the regatta, but tied in number of wins and loses with Yale University, Georgetown University, and Boston College were trailing closely behind. Once Charleston won their second race in the final round they clinched the regatta win. They did have to go back out and sail one more race against Yale in which they won.

Charleston upset Yale’s four-year winning streak and to win it at home was especially sweet.

“We are stocked and really excited,” says Ward Cromwell, head coach for Charleston. “We had two losses that were right at the finish and we made some little mistakes and the other two were blow outs, so that was hard, but we won when it counted and we sailed the boats well.

“We didn’t make many errors and did a good job staying out of trouble. Today we stayed hydrated and each team member had his or her routine to stay fresh and focused. Winning this event is a great accomplishment and winning it twice in 12 years is good – and winning at home is even better.”

Sailing for Charleston was: Christophe Killian ’18, Jack Cusick ’17, Stefano Peschiera ’18, Elizabeth Pemberton ’18, Chloe Dapp ’17, Grace McCarthy ’18, Caroline Bracken ’19 and Annabel Carrington ’19.

Yale finished in second place having sailed a very good event, but it was still not enough to carry on their event-winning streak.

“The last race we had with Boston College stung,” Bill Healy, assistant coach for Yale, says of their loss. “And the race we had with Charleston in the final 8 round was also a tough one where we were winning with a 2,3,4, but had a call go against us. Everyone has races they look back on and wished they had done better.

“Today we tried to stay fresh by keeping it light after each race and staying in the shade. We feel pretty good about how did, but Charleston looked fast and comfortable in every race. They were in the groove.”

Sailing for Yale was: Ian Barrows ’17, Nicholas Baird ’19, Malcolm Lamphere ’18, Joseph Kiss ’17, Clara Robertson ’17, Graceann Nicolosi ’20, Chandler Gregoire ’17 and Natalya Doris ’17

Georgetown finished in third place one spot behind their second place finish in this regatta last year.

“The conditions were really nice today and we were in every race,” says Mike Callahan, head coach for Georgetown. “We made some simple mistakes, but we are a young team, so it is to be expected, but we would have loved to do better.

“Our morale was good today, and it was a long day, but when we were mathematically locked out of winning the regatta, we may have lost a little energy. Charleston did a great job, sailed really well and their coaches did a good job taking their team to win nationals.”

Sailing for Georgetown was: Roger Dorr ’18, Campbell D’Eliscu ’19, Sean Segerblom ’20, William Logue ’20, Haley Shea ’19, Meaghan MacRae ’18, Rebecca Fung ’19 and Albert Kraus ’17.

Boston College finished in fourth place having sailed very well and only lost one race in the final four, but with their previous record they were not able to place on the podium.

Sailing for Boston College was: Harry Koeppel ’17, Erika Reineke ’17, Charles Sinks ’18, Hannah Lynn ’17, Lily McGrath ’18, Allison Ferraris ’17, Tara Ferraris ’19, Fiona Walsh ’17, Henry Dumke ’17 and Emma Perry ’19.

Tomorrow will be a lay day and racing will continue on Tuesday, May 30 at 10 a.m., in the Gill College Sailing Coed National Championship, hosted by the College of Charleston. The event will begin with two days of semifinals racing followed by two days of finals racing.

Final Results (wins and losses):
1. College of Charleston, 21-4
2. Yale University, 19-6
3. Georgetown University, 17-8
4. Boston College, 17-8
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5. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 12-10
5. U.S. Naval Academy, 12-10
7. Stanford University, 11-11
8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 10-12
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9. Eckerd College, 8-7
9. Old Dominion University, 8-7
9. Tufts University, 8-7
12. University of Hawaii, 5-10
13. Northwestern University, 2-13
14. University of Wisconsin, 2-13
15. Oregon State University, 1-14
16. Texas A&M University at Galveston, 1-14

Event details – Social feed – Results – Livestream

First: College of Charleston

Second: Yale University

Third: Georgetown University

Following the team racing nationals (May 27-29) is the coed fleet racing nationals (May 30-June 2). Details.

Livestream Broadcast Schedule
• Gill Co-Ed Dinghy National Championship (May 30 – June 2)
WATCH HERE: Thursday, June 1 through Friday, June 2 @ 9:30 am EST (2 days):

Source: Jennifer Mitchell (words), Michael Wiser (photos)