SAILING: FALL SEASON WRAP-UP & 2011 FINAL RANKING

The highlight of the fall season was definitely the arrival of Reed Johnson as our new and first professional Head Coach. Reed, a two-time All-American and one-time All-American Honorable Mention from Boston College had been an Assistant Coach at BC and the University of Pennsylvania for one year each prior to coming to Fordham for his first Head Coach position.

Because he and his lovely wife, Abby, were married on October 1, however, we had the benefit of his knowledge and experience for only five weeks. Nevertheless, he made a very positive impression upon our sailors and the impact of his presence will undoubtedly help raise Fordham Sailing to the next level.

This fall, our Rams participated in 22 regattas; 18 coed dinghy, two women’s dinghy, and two big boat offshore events.

Highlights included winning the Kathryn Hammond Memorial Regatta and the McCurdy Open. The former was a SEISA Intersectional Regatta hosted by the University of Texas and the latter was a MAISA only event hosted by the University of Delaware. Alex Sachs ‘12, Emma Pfohman ‘13, John O’Riordan ’12 & Nina Synnestvedt ’14 captured the gold in Austin while Matt Winter ’13, Nina and two frosh, Chase Webber & Jen Irwin, did the same at the home-port of the Blue Hens.

Two of our sailors, Alex & Emma, had a particularly good fall season and I would be remiss if I did not mention their accomplishments. They sailed A Division at eight regattas; won their division three times and placed third three times. At the MAISA Club Teams’ Championship, they were one point out of second among the fleet of 18 schools. At the highly competitive Nevins Regatta at Kings Point, they were the eighth MAISA boat and the first MAISA Club boat to finish. At the WAR Memorial MAISA Fall Conference Championship, they finished sixth, one point out of fifth place, among the top 18 MAISA teams competing. For their overall performance, Fordham has nominated them for All Conference Skipper and All Conference crew honors. Hopefully, Alex & Emma will be included when the honorees are announced at the MAISA Annual Meeting at St. John’s College in Annapolis at the end of January.

For the Year 2011, final team rankings were recently announced. There are now 48 teams in our MAISA conference; 10 varsity and 38 club teams, Among all 48 schools, Fordham’s coed team is ranked 11th. Among the 38 club teams, our Rams are ranked #3. Approximately half the schools field women’s teams. Among those schools, our Lady Rams are ranked 7th overall and 2nd among the club teams.

Among the 48 MAISA teams, rankings for the Top 20 Coed and Top 15 Women’s Teams follow. Club teams are indicated with an *.

RANKING COED WOMEN
1. Georgetown Hobart/William Smith
2. St. Mary’s Georgetown
3. Hobart/William Smith St. Mary’s
4. Navy Navy
5. Old Dominion Old Dominion
6. SUNY Maritime Cornell *
7. U/Penn * FORDHAM *
8. Washington College SUNY Maritime
9. Cornell * Columbia*
10. Kings Point U/Penn *
11. FORDHAM * Washington College
12. George Washington * Kings Point
13. Columbia * George Washington *
14. Virginia * Salisbury *
15. Hampton Princeton *
16. Christopher Newport
17. Princeton *
18. Stevens *
19. Monmouth *
20. Villanova *

On the next post is an overview of the Top 10 Club Teams in MAISA during the past eight years. Fordham has the second best overall track record. I believe that you will find the data interesting.