The ACC performances provided an impressive finish to a particularly successful season. The Big Green most recently placed first out of 18 teams in the co-ed and women's New England conference championship regattas in late October.
Co-captain Sam Williams '12 said the ACC results were a significant accomplishment for the Big Green.
"In both of these events, the team's performance was awesome," he said. "It's the best end-of-season results we've had since I've been here. The Atlantic Coast Conferences are some of the strongest teams in the country."
Both the women's and co-ed teams sent eight athletes four skipper-crew pairings to compete in the tournaments. At the co-ed ACC, Dartmouth finished with a total score of 264, trailing only Roger Williams University's 221 points. The Big Green struggled in the A Division, taking 11th place with 170 points, but dominated in the B Division, finishing in second place with 94 points.
Matt Wefer '14 said the team concentrated "on what we could do and what we could control" at the regatta.
"We focused more on the task at hand than the score," he said.
The Women's ACC came down to the wire, as Dartmouth finished just one point behind Yale University and the University of Rhode Island. Dartmouth took sixth in the A Division with 112 points and earned first in the B Division with just 70 points.
Yale won a head-to-head tiebreaker with the University of Rhode Island, and both teams finished the regatta with 181 points.
Co-captain Molly Wilson '13 said she was stunned by the close scores at the regatta.
"When we came off the water and saw it was so close, we were really excited," Wilson said.
Wilson added that Dartmouth's results in both ACC regattas boosted the team's morale, giving it momentum to carry into the winter training season.
"Both of the results are really exciting," she said. "I think it's really great. It gives the team a lot of confidence in our abilities but it also gives us a lot of room to improve for our spring season."
Sailing conditions over the weekend allowed for competitive showings from all teams, as the wind was ideal in both locations.
"The conditions were great," Williams said. "The breeze was between 10 and 15 miles per hour. It was a little cold, but we have practice sailing in cold weather so that doesn't phase us, unlike some of the teams from Florida."
Wefer said that the team will continue to focus on improvement after a "phenomenal" fall season.
"We've taken the philosophy this year to not just focus on results but to get better," he said. "We're looking to just do the best that we can and have fun. It's hard to play a sport and not have fun with it, so that's a main priority."
Wilson said many team members will miss sailing competitively during the winter.
"I think the season was incredible," Wilson said. "We've known for a while that we've had a lot of talent on the team. We've had a really fun season and I'm sad that it's ending for now. This is the best that we've done since I've been here."
