May 28, 2008
NEWPORT, R.I. - The No. 7 Bulldog women's sailing team placed third at the ICSA Women's National Championships held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Newport, R.I. in 420's. The third-place finish is the team's highest since winning the championship in 2004.
The Bulldogs performed strongly throughout the event, leading the event by as many as 27 points on the second day of competition. The team continued leading the event through the third day of competition, before strong performances by No. 3 Boston College allowed the team to be passed in the overall standings after the 15th race in each division. The team, which ended up finishing with 202 points over the 18 races in both A and B Divisions, finished behind only Boston College, who had 186 points and No. 6 Brown with 188 points. The win for Boston College is the first in the program's history.
The Bulldog performance was highlighted by the win of the overall A Division title by junior skipper Jane Macky and sophomore crews Marla Menninger and Sarah Lihan. The A Division team scored a regatta low of 80 points over the 18 races, nine points ahead of the next closest competition from Boston College with 89 points. Consistency was key to the division's performance, as the A Division combination never finished outside the top half of competitors and finished in fourth place or better in 13 of the 18 races. By virtue of winning A Division, Macky won the Madeleine Trophy awarded to the winning skipper of A Division at ICSA Women's Nationals. Macky is only the fifth Yale sailor to win the trophy since it started being awarded in 1967 and is the first Bulldog to capture the honor since 1994.
The B Division boat also performed strongly, putting in a strong effort over the course of the regatta. Sailed by junior captain Kate Hagemann and crews freshman Elizabeth Brim and sophomore Rebecca Jackson, the Bulldogs placed seventh in B Division with 122 points. The B Division team was leading their division through a little more than the first half of the regatta before a number of tough races dropped the team in the standings. The performance was highlighted by three consecutive victories in the third, fourth and fifth races of the regatta. Hagemann, Jackson and Brim finished in the top-five places in 12 of the 18 races.
The conditions over the regatta can be best described as challenging. High winds and large waves tested the sailors at times. The Bulldogs, however, utilized the heavy air sailing techniques they perfect at the open-water McNay Family Sailing Center facility to use the tough conditions to advance their place in the standings. The Bulldog's performance in the heavy breeze was helped by the participation of heavy-air crews Jackson and Lihan.
The third-place overall finish is the sixth-highest finish in the program's history. Since the Bulldog championship in 2004, the team placed eighth in 2005 and 13th in 2006 and missed qualifying for the championships in 2007. The team returns the entirety of its squad next year, so it will be poised to start off the fall 2008 season on the strong note that it ended the spring 2008 season.
Report filed by Caleb Dorfman '09, Yale Sports Publicity