Tulane Sailing opens action at home, hosts Allstate Sugar Bowl Regatta
by Maggie McEvilly 21 Sep 2019 06:27 AEST
Allstate Sugar Bowl Regatta © Tulane Athletics
The Tulane sailing team brings action back to New Orleans and opens fall competition at home this weekend, hosting the Allstate Sugar Bowl Regatta on Saturday and Sunday at Lake Pontchartrain.
The Green Wave welcome defending national champion College of Charleston, Jacksonville, Old Dominion, UC Santa Barbara and the British University Sailing Association to the Municipal Yacht Harbor, with competition beginning at 10 a.m. on both days.
"It will be a really great opportunity for us hosting the Sugar Bowl, it's always great," head coach Charles Higgins said. "This year it'll be considerably tougher than it was in our inaugural season. We're bringing in four teams that finished in the finals of the fleet-race national championships last year - with defending national champion College of Charleston, Old Dominion, Jacksonville and UC Santa Barbara - and a fifth-team comprised of all-stars from the British University Sailing Association, which will be really terrific to have them here as well."
The teams will compete in 18 total races over the course of the two-day regatta, with each school sending three teams to sail in two coed divisions and one women's division races.
Tulane finished fourth of six teams in last year's Allstate Sugar Bowl Regatta, the first at home since becoming a varsity program in 2018. The team defeated Georgia Tech and NC State in 2018, totaling 13 first-place finishes, and looks to improve significantly this time around with some impressive new additions to its roster.
In the Green Wave's first regatta of the 2019 season, sophomore Ciara Rodriguez-Horan and freshman Cameron Giblin recorded first-place finishes in the women's and men's SEISA Singlehanded Qualifier to earn spots in the ICSA Singlehanded National Championships.
The regatta is free and open to the public. Fans who are unable to make it out to Lake Pontchartrain are able to stay updated with Tulane this weekend by tracking the team's live scores here.
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