April 18, 2008
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - No. 2 Bulldogs Hope to Repeat as Admiral's Cup Champions Team Also Competing at Thompson Trophy Intersectional
The No. 2 Bulldog sailors will be competing at the Admiral's Cup hosted by King's Point as defending champions this weekend, hoping to build upon the season's previous success in defending their title. The unique three-division regatta will feature the top teams from around the nation. The Elis will also compete in intersectional competition at the Thompson Trophy hosted by Connecticut College and will send a team to Southern Series Six at Rhode Island.
The Admiral's Cup features some of the toughest competition yet for the Bulldogs. Nine of the top 10 teams in the country will be in attendance, including No. 1 St. Mary's, who has held the top spot in the national rankings since the beginning of the spring season. The Admiral's Cup is a unique regatta as it will feature three divisions of racing. A and B Divisions will sail in the doublehanded FJ's and 420's while C Division will sail the singlehanded Laser.
Last year, the team won C Division in the Laser, placed second in B Division and was seventh in A Division for a combined win and 16-point gap over No. 1 St. Mary's. While C Division sailor Matthew Barry graduated, the team will return with a formidable competitor in the Laser, sophomore Sarah Lihan. Lihan placed third at the US Olympic Trials in the Laser Radial, but will be stepping up to the Laser this weekend, an identical boat with a slightly larger sail.
Experience will be on the team's side at the rest of the event, as it returns the entirety of its team in A and B Division from the 2007 champion squad. Last year, senior Zachary Brown and junior Grace Becton sailed in A Division while sophomore captain Thomas Barrows and senior Abigail Coplin sailed B Division to a second-place finish, only two points behind the winners.
The team will also face tough national competition at the Thompson Trophy intersectional regatta hosted by Connecticut College in FJ's on the historically shifty Thames River. The Thompson Trophy was the premier national event of the week until this year, but the college sailing schedule has changed, with the Thompson Trophy now taking place the same weekend as the Admiral's Cup. This means some teams will have to choose which event to send its top sailors to, making comparisons to previous years tough. Still, the competition will be solid at the event, with 10 of the top 15 teams nationally in attendance.
The Bulldogs performed well at the event last year in earning a third-place finish. The team was lead by a victory in B Division by Barrows and Coplin. Brown and Becton placed 11th in A Division at the event. However, the team will send a completely new team to the event this year as Barrows, Becton, Brown and Coplin will be competing at the Admiral's Cup. This year, the Elis will send the teams of junior John Kempton and Adriane Levin and junior Caleb Dorfman with crews freshman Tatyana Camejo and senior Harriet Thayer to the event.
A squad of Elis will also compete at the Southern Series Six event hosted by Rhode Island in FJ's on Saturday and Sunday. The Bulldogs placed fourth at the Southern Series event hosted by Rhode Island last year, boasting third-place finishes in both A and B Divisions.
Report filed by Caleb Dorfman '09, Yale Sports Publicity