The Dartmouth sailing team took big strides toward reclaiming a top national ranking after a big four-event weekend that resulted in solid finishes in women's, co-ed and team races. The Dartmouth women are putting the sail game in a choke hold once again after another regatta win this weekend, making back-to-back victories over the past two weeks. At the President's Trophy hosted by Boston University, A-division divas Lauren Padilla '05 and Liz Hyon '05 placed a high second. Another big performance at the 2-spot in B-division by Emily East '06 and Amo Loring '04 put Dartmouth ahead overall.
In expressing anticipation for coming races, Loring said, "we are looking forward to dominating."
Indeed, the women's performance at the President's Trophy is especially important with the Women's New England Championship coming up soon, hosted again by Boston University.
Hyon commented, "Women's New England's are two weekends from now and we're excited to be heading into them with such strong results. It was particularly nice to do well at B.U., since they're hosting the Championship."
The top six finishers at the event will qualify for the all important ISCA National Championships in Oregon, the "Big Dance" of sailing.
Across the way at the sixth Team Racing Intersectional at Yale University, Dartmouth showed it can succeed in any style of racing with a stellar performance in another team event with intense head-to-head competition. The co-ed team of Clementine James '05, Erik "My Red Hair is Sweet" Storck '07, Mike Wilde '07, Debbie Sperling '06, Todd Whitehead '06 and Allison Swindell '04 raced well all day and even pulled out a tie-breaker at the end with the Coast Guard Academy to finish second overall of 10 teams.
The 8-2 record of the sailors in the event was just one victory shy of the winning team's efforts, a testament to how close the racing really was. In addition, in his first event after a six week injury, Storck jumpstarted the co-eds with his racing prowess and his sparkling personality.
The Jan T. Friis Regatta at Tufts University also put Dartmouth up to some stiff team racing competition. The team of Andrew Loe '06, Elisabeth Kreter '05, Peter Fleming '05, Christina Duncan '06, Scott Linthicum '04 and Killarney Loufek '07 sailed hard and posted a record of 8-6 overall, which merited a fourth place end result, again of 10 total teams.
Kreter put things in perspective, saying, "We were extremely close in all of the races that we lost and we know, with practice, we can beat anyone. It's important to note that although our opponents have been practicing for a month, we haven't yet practiced because Mascoma is still frozen."
Rounding out the action this weekend was the latest installment of the Metro Series, this time at Harvard University. Jimmy Attridge '07 and Laura Sheinkopf '07 won A-division hands down, while the senior duo of Jon Kling '04 and Amanda Morganroth '04 had no trouble winning B-division -- making an impressive nine wins of 11 attempts for Morganroth -- resulting in a total regatta win. Dartmouth now leads overall in the four-event series.
The solid victory at the Metro Series made it a special holiday weekend for the sailors. This weekend, the team looks to build upon the progress made over the past week as the championship regattas draw nearer.
