With New England's just over two weeks away, the sailing team continued it's consistent success on the water, as both the women's and co-ed teams put in solid efforts in their weekend regattas.
On the women's side, seniors Jen Provan, Lauren Manning, and Lee Icyda teamed up with sophomore Laurel Snetsinger and freshman A.J. Crane at Brown University for the Dellenbaugh Trophy. Provan and Manning battled on the water for two consecutive days and put in a solid performance in the A-division. In the B division, Icyda and Crane spent most of the time at the helm, while Snetsinger replaced Crane as Icyda's crew in four of the final races of the regatta.
Despite their efforts, the Jumbos fell just short of the top, and finished the weekend in second place behind Boston University. The team won the B division and but finished in second overall by a point.
"It went down to the last race in B fleet," Crane said. "It was neck and neck for most of the final race, but we had to make up a few points, and in the end BU finished ahead of us."
Despite missing the top spot by only a point, the Jumbo squad left Rhode Island satisfied and happy overall. "We sailed really well as a team," Crane said. "Overall we were happy, although we would have liked to finish in first. But it's fun when it gets close like that."
The Jumbo women will try to keep the success going, as they prepare throughout the week for their chance to qualify for Nationals, at women's New England's at home on Mystic Lake.
On the co-ed side, the Jumbos traveled to the University of Rhode Island to compete for the Moody Trophy on Salt Pond. Coach Ken Legler's squad performed well, but managed to secure only the fifth spot by the end of the weekend.
"We sailed alright, but not quite as well as we were hoping," senior co-captain Adam Deermount said. Freshman Katie Shuman echoed her teammate's opinion on the squad's performance. "We definitely lost to teams that we could have beaten if we were sailing as best as we could," she said.
That performance came from only four of the Jumbos, as the structure of the fleet race allowed for only two divisions and two teams per school. The sophomore pair of Pete Levesque and Caroline Hall, who normally sail in the top spot, were absent from the Jumbo lineup this weekend, as the competed in a different regatta at Connecticut College. Their absence left Deermount and fellow senior Lisa Keith in the A division for Tufts at URI, while junior John Birkett and Shuman competed in division B. Also present at the weekend regatta were the substitute crews of senior Katie Gordon and sophomore Matt Cohen. The two substitute sailors saw quite a lot of time throughout the weekend races, as high winds forced the teams to use their heavy crews on the water.
"If it's windy, you are going to need more weight in the boat to keep it flat so that it will move faster," Keith said. "And due to the windy weekend, we used our heavier crews a lot."
Despite only a fifth place finish, the Jumbo's are not ready to panic. The weekend regatta featured the same boats that will be used at New England's on April 28-29th, and thus much of the weekend served as early preparation for New England's and the chance to qualify for nationals.
"We were using it for practice for New England's," Deermount said. "We knew it would be hard, and that showed on Saturday, but hopefully we will pick it up."
The Jumbos will use the upcoming weekend to continue their preparations for New England's, as most of the team has the weekend free for practice on Mystic Lake in Medford. "We are going to practice team racing this weekend," Deermount said. "We are trying to get some alumni team racers to come out that have had success in the past so that we can get as much competition as possible. It's kind of like a weekend off, but not really."
The next two weeks will most likely be busy ones for the co-ed squad, as they look to fulfill their own high expectations concerning New England's and qualifying for nationals.
"It think we can expect to qualify for nationals and then after that we have a few weeks to prepare," Shuman said. "But we definitely still have work to do."
