The Dartmouth coed sailing team fell just short of qualifying for nationals at its most anticipated regatta of the year, the Coed New England Championships, held this weekend at Connecticut College. The team finished in 10th place, just two spots out of the running.
"For me, as a senior, it's very disappointing," Matt Cohen '10 said. "However, we sailed pretty well most of the weekend, and it was the first time we've legitimately competed at the New England Championships in almost two years."
The Big Green finished with 310 points, 11 points behind the much-coveted eighth place.
"Looking back on it, we missed it by not that much," Sam Williams '12 said. "We can look forward to our future regattas and know that we gained a lot of experience this past weekend, and will use it for the rest of the season."
Williams and Sarah Freihofer '10 finished in eighth place in A division, while Cohen and Ali Hiller '11 placed 12th in B division.
"Based on our performance, the whole team should be very encouraged because we were qualifying at various points in the regatta," Cohen said. "You could tell by the way the coaches and the other sailors were acting they were a bit bummed, but very optimistic about the future of this team."
The Big Green competed on the same river a week ago in the New England Invitational, so the team hoped the familiarity of the venue would propel them to a trip to nationals.
"The conditions this weekend were pretty similar to those of last weekend, so I think it really did help me, and probably the team as well, because I felt pretty comfortable when I got into the water," Williams said.
The competition at this event was much tougher than at last weekend's regatta, with 10 nationally-ranked teams vying for the title. Boston College, the team ranked No. 1 in the nation, won the Coed New England Championships.
"This regatta was fully stacked with the top teams from our conference," Williams said. "Every team sent their best, and although we had to adjust quickly to the competition, I think we performed a lot better this weekend against this type of quality than we have earlier in the term or in the Fall."
Cohen agreed with Williams, saying the teams that beat them came well prepared and ready for a tough regatta.
"Nobody stole it from us," Cohen said. "Everyone sailed exceptionally well and whoever finished ahead of us really earned it."
Yale University and Brown University, both ranked in the top five nationally, finished second and third, respectively.
The team also sailed at the Oberg Trophy, which took place at Boston University on Saturday. Dartmouth came in third place at this regatta, behind Boston University and Rhode Island University, respectively.
Bo McClatchy '13 and Jenna Musco '11 finished sixth in A division, and John Renehan '13 and Molly Wilson '13 came in second in B division.
This weekend the coed team will sail at the Thompson Trophy at Connecticut College and at the Admiral's Cup, taking place in King's Point, N.Y.
"We sail at two big regattas this weekend," Williams said. "Hopefully we can get redemption against teams that beat us [next] weekend."
The women's team was also in action this weekend, participating in the Wick/Shrew Regatta at the Coast Guard Academy. The team, which came away with a second-place finish, was once again led by its dynamic duo, Becca Dellenbaugh '10 and Rachel Moncton '12, who finished first in A division. Chandler Salisbury '13 and Steph Gagnon '10 finished fourth in B division.
The women, ranked eighth in the nation, will compete in the New England Women's Championship this upcoming weekend. The top seven teams in that regatta will qualify for nationals.
"We're going to be practicing hard against the women this week to help them prepare for the New England Championships," Williams said. "We're very excited for them and we're sure they'll do great this weekend."
The women's team will look to repeat its performance from last year, when the Big Green finished in second place at the New England Women's Championships, earning them a berth to nationals, where the team finished in eighth place.
