The sailing team continued to reach new heights, putting together yet another remarkable weekend. The team competed in four regattas in the Northeast, placing in the top four in all of them. Additionally, four Big Green sailors earned New England Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association honors as sailors of the week. Matt Wefer ’14 and Avery Plough ’14 were named coed sailors of the week after pulling off a key win in the A-division of the Professor Schell Trophy. Deirdre Lambert ’15 and Carissa Crawford ’14 were also recognized for their division win at the Victorian Urn.
The Big Green notched its most impressive result at the Schell Trophy hosted, by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Wefer and Plough sailed A-division while Scott Houck ’15 and Julia McKown ’17 competed in the B-division. Wefer and Plough put together a virtuoso performance, earning four top-three finishes in their final five races to take the A-division from rival Yale University by a slim five-point margin. The Big Green also managed to run up a large lead on Tufts University in the A-division, as the Jumbos fell from first to seventh over the last four races of the day.
In the B-division, Houck and McKown hung tough, placing second in a highly competitive field of 18 teams. Tufts took the division, beating the Big Green by a fairly wide 14-point margin. In the final B-division race of the regatta, the Big Green placed second while Tufts finished a disappointing 12th. This margin would prove to hold up, as the Big Green held the Jumbos at bay and earned a narrow six-point win. The Big Green and the rest of the top seven teams qualified for the Atlantic Coast Championship in two weeks in Charleston, S.C.
“Scott and Julia just crushed it last race,” Wefer said. “We had finished and the girls’ regatta at Harvard had finished, so the girls and coaches were watching from the shore with binoculars, trying to see how much we had to beat Tufts by to get the win.”
Another major race took place just around the corner, as the Big Green went to the Victorian Coffee Urn, hosted by Harvard University, placing second and qualifying for the women’s Atlantic Coast Championship.
Lambert and Crawford sailed A-division, defeating the eventual regatta-winning Midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy. Lambert and Crawford controlled their division, never placing lower than fourth while cruising their way to a division win. In the B-division, Dartmouth was represented by Kelsey Wheeler ’14 and Lizzie Guynn ’16, who had a more difficult time on the water but managed to place ninth, just five points out of the top five. Eventually, Dartmouth fell eight points short of taking down the Midshipmen, though they handily took down the other teams in the 18 team fleet and beat third-place Boston College Eagles by a wide 13-point margin.
Dartmouth also put together an impressive performance at the Nickerson Trophy, hosted by Tufts, where it placed second, just six points behind the host Jumbos.
Charles Lalumiere ’17 and Mia Steck ’17 sailed A-division for the Big Green, winning the division by four points over the Jumbos. Lalumiere and Steck finished in the top five in all eight of their races and in the top two in four. From the third race on, Lalumiere and Steck never trailed in the A-division. Robert Floyd ’17 and Sophie Kerr ’17 sailed B-division, placing fifth.
Dartmouth also sent two teams to the Dave Perry Trophy, hosted by Yale, where Big Green 1 placed fourth, just three points ahead of Big Green 2, which finished fifth in the 16-team fleet. Colin Murphy ’15 and Caroline Gray ’16 sailed A-division for Big Green 1 while Emily Petno ’16 and Caitlin Martin ’15 sailed B-division.
“On Saturday, conditions were calm but they got breezier on Sunday,” Petno said. “The northerly wind at Yale is always a lot more shifty than the southerly which can be a little more predictable.”
Evan Read ’16 and Abigail Rohman ’16 sailed A-division for Big Green 2 while Thomas Gallagher ’16 and John Lewis ’17 sailed B-division. Read and Rohman finished second in their division, while Murphy and Gray finished tied for fourth just seven points behind Big Green 2.
“Conditions were more steady on Sunday,” Gray said. “That made us focus more on boat speed and keeping our heads out of the boat.”
The Big Green sail again Nov. 16 to 17 with the Atlantic Coast Championship and the women’s Atlantic Coast Championship regattas.
