Dartmouth College wins Women's College Sailing National Championship

by Jennifer Mitchell on 25 May 2013 Today was the last day of racing for the Sperry Top-Sider/ICSA Women’s National Championship on Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Fla. The event is co-hosted by the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, Eckerd College and the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. Eighteen women’s collegiate teams raced for the Gerald C. Miller Trophy and Dartmouth College came out the victor.

The competitors arrived to a nice westerly wind around 5 – 7 knots. The westerly started to die a bit, but built back up to 10 – 12 knots with puffs around 14 knots in the afternoon making it the best day of racing so far. The sun was shining and temperatures were in the high 80s. Racing got underway around 12 p.m. and four races were completed in both A and B divisions on trapezoid courses. The Championship was completes with 18 total races in each division.

Going into today’s racing the scores were close. Dartmouth had a pretty solid 39-point lead over second place, but elsewhere on the score board there was still room for teams to move up and down.

Most notable was Cornell University who finished the day yesterday in eighth place, but who moved up to third place today winning the Ann Campbell Trophy. The Cornell women sailed consistently and had only one finish out of the top 10 today. Sailing for Cornell was Lauren Turner ’13 and Lindsey Ludwig ’14 in A-division and Jennifer Borshoff ’15 with Devon Furlong ’13 and Claire Riedman ’16 in B-division.

Other movement on the scoreboard came from St. Mary’s College of Maryland who finished yesterday in third place, tied with Boston College. The Seahawks gave it their best today and moved up to second place 38-points behind Dartmouth.

'We are really excited for Kayla McComb and Nicole DeAngeli. McComb won her last race [skippering] in college sailing,' says Adam Werblow, head coach for St. Mary’s. McComb spent her first two years in college sailing crewing. Werblow says she built her skill set and had the composure to come and thrive at Nationals. McComb will go on to crew in the next two National Championships.

Going into the racing today, Werblow says the women did not focus on other boats, but worked on sailing their boats well. He says they were committed to giving it their best and although it was not enough to catch first place, they are proud to be second. Sailing for St. Mary’s was Kayla McComb ’13 and Nicole DeAngeli ’14 in A-division and Mimi Roller ’13 and Marissa Golison ’16 in B-division.

Winning the Women’s Championship title and the Gerald C. Miller Trophy for Dartmouth was Deirdre Lambert ’15 and Carissa Crawford ‘14 in A-division and Chandler Salisbury ’13 and Madilyn Gamble ’13 as well as Kelsey Wheeler ’14 and Lizzie Guynn ‘16 in B-division.

'We are ecstatic, it’s a great feeling,' John Stork III, head coach for Dartmouth says of the Women’s win. The women consistently sailed well throughout the event – the A-division team did not have a finish below eighth place. Stork says the most difficult day for the women was the first day of racing in the regatta. He says they were not controlling their own destiny on the starting line.

'After the first day we talked about taking control at the start,' Stork says. After discussing it the starts improved and the women were able to sail their own races. Their strategy going into today was to focus on stressing that every race is a new race. Just take it one at a time. When a team started to match race them at the starts it caught the women off-guard, but they were able to react and change their starts for the remainder of the day.

Stork says the best part about the team that sailed this regatta is that it truly was a team effort both on and off the water. 'It made them well prepared for this event,' Stork says. This is the third time that Dartmouth has won the Sperry Top-Sider/ICSA Women’s National Championships having won previously in 1992 and 2000.

In addition to the awards for the teams who placed in the top overall there are two trophies for the winners of each division, which have been awarded since 1974. Deirdre Lambert ’15 and Carissa Crawford ’14 from Dartmouth won the Madeleine Trophy, awarded to the low-point A- division team. They finished with 68 total points, 37-points ahead of the second place team. Marlena Fauer ’14 with Katherine Gaumond ’15 and Eugenia Custo Greig ’14 from Yale University won the Judy Lawson Trophy, awarded to the low-point B-division team.

Final Overall Results

1. Dartmouth College, 203
2. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 241
3. Cornell University, 267
4. Boston College, 268*
5. Stanford University, 268*
6. Yale University, 272
7. College of Charleston, 279
8. Connecticut College, 289
9. Brown University, 316
10. University of South Florida, 335
11. Georgetown University, 342
12. Eckerd College, 354
13. U.S. Naval Academy, 361
14. William Smith College, 362
15. Roger Williams University, 382
16. University of Minnesota, 499
17. University of Washington, 525
18. University of Texas, 594

* Head-to-head tiebreaker

Racing will continue on Tampa Bay tomorrow with the ICSA/APS Team Racing National Championship lasting three days. Fourteen teams will report at 8 a.m. and racing will begin around 9:45 a.m. Follow the racing on the event website.

For full results and regatta information, click here