With an eighth-place finish at the Coed Fleet Race National Qualifier, Cornell coed sailing earned a spot in the Coed National Semifinals, which accepts the top nine teams from each conference.
Coed sailing traveled to Annapolis, Md., over the weekend to take on 17 other squads. Both the A- and B-division teams were able to compete in twelve races, despite inclement weather forcing various breaks throughout the weekend.
“Saturday was super windy … [but] we were able to stay upright in all of the races and … that really helped keeping our help up,” said sophomore Adeline Sutton. “[Sunday] was the complete opposite, no wind at all.”
“The physical aspects of sailing come into play the higher the winds are,” said head coach Brian Clancy. “The technical aspects … are prevalent in lighter winds.”
The A division finished eighth overall with 85 points, following Penn and beating out King’s College and George Washington University.
Senior Clark Uhl skippered his boat to four top-five and ten top-ten finishes out of twelve races, accompanied by Ethan Anderson for the first ten races and sophomore Adeline Sutton for the last two.
The A division also won the third race on the first day of competition, inspiring confidence and drive for the rest of the races.
The B division was skippered by both junior Gabby Rizika and freshman Brooke Shachoy over the course of the twelve races.
The B division had five top-ten finishes and highlights included their second and fifth-place finishes.
The Coed Fleet Race National Semifinals will begin on May 28th, following the Women’s National Semifinals, which launch on May 21st.
Cornell will be represented in the Women’s National Semifinals, with some of the women competing that weekend also sailing in the Coed Semifinals a week later.
“In the beginning of the year … we were trying to qualify for team racing nationals but after we didn’t qualify, we focused on boat speed and boat-on-boat tactics and fleet racing,” Sutton said.
Team racing involves three boats from the same school competing against three boats from another school, with the school with the fastest collective group of boats winning. Fleet racing, on the other hand, is when each school is represented by one boat and the fastest boat wins.
Clancy mentioned “speed technique and boat handling” as a few of the things he will direct the team’s attention toward in the weeks preceding Nationals.
Both seniors Diana Otis and Kimberly Wong were named to the MAISA All-Conference First-Team crews this season, as well as to the ICSA All-Academic team last year.
The Women’s National Championship races will occur May 21-24 in Newport, Rhode Island.