Different parts of the Dartmouth sailing team competed with great success in three different races this past weekend. In adverse weather conditions, the team that fared best was the freshman squad, which won the Nickerson Trophy at the New England Freshman Championship at the University of Rhode Island.
The victory qualified the team for the Atlantic Coast Championships on Nov. 11 and 12 at St. Mary's College in Maryland.
"We sort of expected them to win," said sailing Coach Brian Courtland Doyle of the race at URI. "They're a good freshman team as far as this region is concerned."
The sailing took place in only one day, as the weather cancelled Saturday's planned races. Despite the wind and cold, the regatta was begun and completed with 12 races on Sunday.
Scott Hogan '04 and Scott Linthicum '04 sailed together in the six A-Division races due to "heavy air," or high wind, and finished second in the division. In lighter air, Amory Loring '04 has also raced for the A-team.
"We sailed really well in some tricky conditions," Hogan said. "We adjusted well to them and came through in the end."
Hogan and Linthicum led their division going into the final race, but were fouled at the start of the race and fell behind URI.
Greg Hammond '04 and Christina Lyndon '04 raced in the six B-Division contests, finishing second in the division.
"That was a good finish considering the shifty conditions and the level of competition," Hammond said. "The coldness combined with the high winds made it really tough. It was an endurance contest by the end of the day."
The combined results of the two divisions gave Dartmouth a remarkable 14-point margin of victory.
Points are awarded by finish -- first place earns one point, second gets two, etc. -- and the low score wins.
Dartmouth won with 34 points. Host URI was the next closest finisher at 48.
"It was pretty exciting," Lyndon said. "It was nice to see that our hard work paid off."
The team now looks forward to racing in warmer weather down south,
"Sunday was freezing cold and lots of wind," Lyndon said. "I'm looking forward to Atlantic Coast."
Said Hogan, "We have a good chance of doing real well against some of the other teams from the Mid-Atlantic and the Southern districts."
The women
Dartmouth's number two-ranked sailors finished second in this weekend's Urn Trophy competition at Harvard. The race is the last of eight this fall that pits local teams against those from other regions around the country. Tufts took first place.
Three-time All-American Erin Maxwell '01 and team Captain Leslie Sandberg '01 won the A-Division races.
"It was a very windy event compared to our normal events," Doyle said. "One of the Dartmouth teams capsized, which kind of cost us the event. We actually sailed very well."
The Dartmouth team had previously qualified for the Atlantic Coast Championships to defend its 1999 title.
The nation's top ranked team is Connecticut College. Numbers three through five are St. Mary's, Stanford and Tufts.
Coeds
The nation's number one coed team finished third in the Schell Trophy race, hosted by MIT. Tufts took first with 172 points, followed closely by Harvard at 177.
The Dartmouth team finished with 186 despite winning the A-Division races by far with All-American Patrick Hogan '01 and alternating Jen Morgan '02 and Carly Prior '01.
Horrigan, Kevin '02, Cindy Keppel '02 and Greg Hill '02 finished fourth among B-Division racers.
The coeds had also previously qualified for the Atlantic Coast Championships. The team won the Championships in 1999.
Georgetown, Harvard, Tufts and Hobart/William Smith are just behind Dartmouth in the national rankings.
