After just having returned from a week of intensive training at the US Naval Academy and the College of Charleston, the Dartmouth sailing team powered its way to victories at the NEISA Team Sailing event at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and the Owen Trophy hosted by Yale University. Both competitions are major intersectional regattas.
"Dartmouth's success at the regattas this past weekend shows how well hard work pays off," team member Katie Lyndon '01 said.
"The team's domination at all levels of competition show the vast depth we have this season. It's going to be a very exciting, and hopefully a very rewarding, season."
The Dartmouth team in the NEISA regatta was made up of the All-American pairing of Dan Herlihy '00 and Katie Lyndon '01, Marcus Coe '00 and Carly Prior '01, and Patrick Hogan '01 and two-time All-American Erin Myers '00.
This event was a Team Sailing competition, meaning that it was conducted in a round robin format; teams competed head to head in races of three boats against three boats.
On Saturday, the first day of racing, 66 races were completed, with an ebbing current making for tricky starts.
By the end of Sunday, Dartmouth found itself tied with Harvard, both teams earning records of 14-3 in round robin racing.
However, Dartmouth was able to prevail in a sail off by a score of 2-0, while Boston College won the silver fleet.
The same round robin format will be used again at the Team Sailing National Collegiate Championship at St. Mary's College in Maryland. Dartmouth would have to finish in the top two at the New England Championship (held at the USCGA on April 29 and 30) to move on to Nationals.
This past weekend, Dartmouth also captured the Owen Trophy by passing Yale and Tufts in the last set of the day on Sunday. On Saturday, all the teams had to deal with constantly changing conditions.
Dartmouth's winning team was composed of two time All-American Erin Maxwell '01 and Leslie Sandberg '01, and Kevin Horrigan '02 and Greg Hill '02.
