FALL SAILING SEASON CONCLUDES - RESULTS

[joesunfish]

This weekend, Fordham concluded its fall season by participating in two very challenging events: the Women's Atlantic Coast Championship at Brown and the Atlantic Coast Tournament at Cornell. In the case of the former event, it is not an exaggeration to state that the ACC is the second most competitive Women's event in the country, topped only by the ICSA Women's National Championship Tournament. Our Lady Rams qualified by placing seventh in our Middle Atlantic (MAISA) conference championship last weekend.

Fourteen of the top 15 women's teams in the country participated and only three club teams qualified; Rhode Island, U/Penn & Fordham. Interestingly, three of the top varsity programs in MAISA; Washington College, Kings Point & NY Maritime were unable to field a women's team for the conference championship. Fordham will be in a similar position in the spring because juniors Ryann Hall & Amanda Tooker, our top two women skippers, will be studying abroad. 

Fordham was represented by Ryann & Alex Wiggins '13 in A Division; Amanda & Hallie Petersen '12 in B Division and Elizabeth Wegmann '12 & Claire Sullivan '13 as back-up crews.

Unfortunately, the Saturday high winds and Sunday moderate breezes forecast at both venues never developed. At Brown, the breeze died in the early afternoon on Sunday and only 16 of 36 races were completed. It was even worse at Cornell where no racing took place on Sunday  resulting in only eight of 32 races being sailed.

The Atlantic Coast competitions consist of teams from the three East Coast conferences; New England, Middle Atlantic & South Atlantic, the first two of which are the hotbed of College Sailing. The top teams at all three women's conference championships earned berths in the Women's ACC. In the Coed Atlantic Coast Championship, which was hosted by Harvard, the top teams in the coed conference championships earned berths. That included the top eight in MAISA. Since Fordham placed ninth at our conference championship, our coed team participated in the Atlantic Coast Tournament, which included the next seven teams in MAISA and similar placing teams from NEISA & SAISA. Thus, the ACT is the equivalent of a consolation regatta for those teams, that did not qualify for the championship event.

At Cornell, Carl Shorett '10 & Emma Pfohman '13 teamed up in A Division while Graham Gardner '11 & Sarah McKay '12 alternated with Alex Sachs '12 & Bridget Dalton '13 in B Division. Co-Captain Phil Krug served as "Sixth man" and chief cheerleader. Fortunately, our coed team peaked when it was supposed to at our conference championship two weeks ago, because this was a tough regatta. Our A Division boat placed a very respectable fifth, only one point out of fourth but our B Division boat had difficulty getting going in the light airs and finished thirteenth. In a shortened regatta such as this, the opportunity to catch up is eliminated. As Vince Lombardi once said, "We didn't lose the game. We just ran out of time."

Regardless, both teams had a great attitude and nothing can take away from the fact that the Fordham Sailing team had its best seasonal showing ever. The specifics will be summarized in a future season-ending wrap-up.

WOMEN'S ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
* = varsity program; (#) = national ranking

1. Boston College - 107 points * (2)
2. Charleston - 109 * (7)
3. Yale - 119 * (1)
4. Eckerd - 124 * (14)
5. Georgetown - 127 * (10)
6. Old Dominion - 128 * (6)
7. Brown - 132 * (4)
8. Hobart/Wm. Smith - 133 * (12)
9. Tufts - 138 * ( 11)
10. South Florida - 145 *
11. St. Mary's - 153 * (5)
12. Rhode Island - 154 (13)
13. Dartmouth - 163 * (8)
14. Harvard - 176 * (3)
15. Navy - 180 *
16. Connecticut College - 188 * (9)
17. U/Penn - 200
18. Fordham - 264


COED ATLANTIC CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT RESULTS
* = varsity program; (#) = national ranking

1. Salve Regina - 25 points * (20)
2. Florida - 42
3. Rhode Island - 45
4. Boston U. - 50 (13)
5. Connecticut College - 53 * (19)
6. New Hampshire - 58
7. Dartmouth - 61 * (17)
8. Providence - 64
9. U/Penn - 67
10. Connecticut - 76
11. Fordham - 76 (28)
12. American - 79
13. Virginia - 80
14. Cornell - 84
15. George Washington - 101
16. Princeton - 120