Ivy League Championship Highlights Memorable Weekend for No. 3 Bulldogs

March 23, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The No. 3 Yale sailors had one of the most successful weekends in the team's recent history by winning the two major intersectional competitions of the weekend and capturing the Ivy League Championship. The Bulldogs competed and placed first at both the 78th Boston Dinghy Club Cup hosted by Harvard and MIT and at the Owen and Mosbacher-Knapp Trophies hosted by Yale at the McNay Family Sailing Center in Branford.

On a weekend full of great performances, the win at the Owen and Mosbacher-Knapp Trophies gave the Elis their first Ivy League title since 2005 and was one of the most exciting. The Bulldogs, who finished third at the event last year, faced one of the most competitive fields at the championship in recent years, with 16 teams in attendance. The championship was decided by the smallest of margins, with Yale placing first with 120 points over the 12 races in each division, closely followed by Brown with 121 points. Until the final race of the regatta was over, the Bulldogs had to continually fight to preserve their spot atop the standings.

At the Owen and Mosbacher-Knapp Trophies, the sailors faced extremely variable and inconsistent conditions. The Bulldogs, however, did not let this stop them from producing consistent finishes. On Saturday, the wind started off from the West at five to 15 knots, but was constantly shifting in an unpredictable manner, which made choosing the favored side of the course tough. The breeze died midway through the day and sailing resumed with the wind coming from the Northwest at eight to 15 knots with large wind shifts. On Sunday, the wind started off from the Northwest before dying and shifting into a Southerly complete with large, choppy waves.

The Elis showed their mastery in all conditions, not letting the uncharacteristically shifty breeze set them back. The Bulldogs instead utilized their skill set of working through tough and unpredictable situations in a conservative manner to maintain stable finishes.

After the first 14 races on Saturday, the Bulldogs boasted 57 points and a lead of 10 points over second place Vermont and 11 points over the defending Ivy League Champions from the Penn. The Bulldogs continued their strong fight on Sunday, achieving solid finishes in all the races, capped by wins in the final two races of A Division by sophomore captain Thomas Barrows and senior crew Abigail Coplin. These two wins left Yale with a with a four-point lead entering the final two races of the day in B Division.

Junior Jane Macky and sophomore Marla Menninger sailed in B Division and put in a solid performance in the last races under immense pressure to preserve the Yale victory. With the Bulldog lead at only two points entering the final race of the regatta, Macky and Menninger led the Bulldogs to victory, fending off efforts by Brown to win the championship by slowing the Yale boat. The Bulldogs finished the final race of the day in 12th place, just one place behind Brown, a finish good enough to preserve a one-point victory for Yale and a strong showing when considering the intense competition between the Brown and Yale boats.

In A division, Barrows and Coplin scored 48 points, 13 points better than second-place Brown's A Division score. Barrows and Coplin finished in the top three in seven of the 12 races, including three first-place finishes.

Macky and Menninger, who normally sail for the women's sailing team and were making an impressive debut in co-ed competition, finished in fifth place with 72 points. Penn won B division with an impressive 47-point total. Macky and Menninger finished in the top five in seven races, including a win in the second race of the regatta.

Macky was very pleased with the team's effort and her sailing this weekend.

"It was a pretty big weekend for the team," Macky noted. "I think we have a lot of people on the team doing well right now because of our hard work and the results just came together this weekend. I feel that my team work with Marla was really good and that is really important in stressful situation like the shifty winds we faced this weekend."

The Bulldogs also ended atop the leader board at the Boston Dinghy Club Cup regatta, the oldest continuously run event in college sailing. The event, comprised of three divisions of FJ's, featured 18 of the top teams from around the country. The strong competition was no match for the Bulldogs, though, as they won the event with a 358 point total, 10 points better than No. 1 St. Mary's College.

Both events featured variable winds and cold temperatures on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the Elis braved cold temperatures and shifty 12-22 knot winds to end the day in first place. The Bulldogs finished 14 races in each division on Saturday, many more races than is typically completed in a single day of competition.

Senior Zachary Brown viewed the intense nature of the racing day as a factor that played into the Bulldogs' favor.

"We emerged victorious because we had physical and mental stamina that allowed to us to continue to sail smartly and strongly through the large number of races on Saturday."

Freshman crew Elizabeth Brim, who normally sails for the women's sailing team, also saw stamina as a key component of the team's success.

"I think a lot of other teams died out physically while we had really good endurance," Brim said. "We had smart sailing, good boat handling and mental toughness to help us on the race course."

The win at the Boston Dinghy Club Cup is a major accomplishment for the Bulldogs. The Elis have not placed in the top three teams at the event in over a decade, with the team's best finishes being fourth place in both 2002 and 2003.

The team was led by skipper Brown and crews Brim and junior Grace Becton, who finished first in A division with 94 points over 18 races. A division showed remarkable consistency, finishing in the top five 3 times, including two victories.

In B Division, sophomore John Kempton and junior Adriane Levin sailed to a seventh-place finish with 148 points. Kempton and Levin placed in the top five six times, including two first place finishes.

In C Division, junior women's captain Kate Hagemann and crews Becton, Brim and sophomore Michael Hession finished in fifth place with 116 points. The sailors in C division placed in the top five eight times over the regatta, including a win in race 11.

After a successful weekend of fleet racing that included victories at the two major fleet racing events of the weekend, the Bulldogs turn their focus to team racing next weekend, when they compete at the Southern New England Team Race hosted by the Coast Guard Academy and Connecticut College. The team will also compete at the Southern Series Three fleet racing event on Saturday hosted by Salve Regina.