At the outset of the 2011 season, the sailing team's ultimate goal was a repeat of last season's success, which saw three Tufts teams — the coed team, the women's team and the team racing squad — qualify for season-ending national tournaments. But after a long, grinding season, only the No. 12 coed team will continue to compete at the coed Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA)/Gill National Championship in late May in Cascade Rocks, Ore.; the No. 14 women's team and team racing squad failed to qualify.
After months of intense competition, the coed Jumbos finally punched their ticket to nationals with a seventh-place finish at the ICSA Eastern Semifinals in Long Beach, Calif., on May 1.
"One of our main goals every year is to qualify for all the national competitions," rising senior tri-captain Massimo Soriano said. "The fact that we completed one of these goals is great."
The coed squad enjoyed a highly successful spring season in 2011, winning several regattas and moving up five spots in the rankings from No. 17 at the start of the season to No. 12 as of May 4. Tufts will be rewarded with a return to the National Championship, where last year the team finished 10th.
Tufts is one of 18 schools to qualify for the prestigious event that includes national powerhouses such as No. 1 Georgetown and No. 2 Boston College, as well as West Coast juggernaut No. 10 Stanford.
The road to the National Championship was not an easy one, however. The Jumbos had to endure a rigorous series of regattas in order to qualify. After placing sixth at the Coed Dinghy Championships hosted by the University of Rhode Island on April 17, Tufts needed to place in the top nine at the ICSA Eastern Semifinals in Long Beach, Calif., to qualify for nationals. With strong performances from both the A-division boat that featured rising sophomore skipper Will Haeger and graduating senior crew Sally Levinson and the B-division boat of Soriano and graduating senior crew Roisin Magee, the team locked up a repeat spot at nationals by finishing seventh.
"I think sailing is a lot about peaking at the right time," said graduating senior tri-captain Margaret Rew. "We … really built off of our whole season from last semester and really peaked at the end of this season to do well in the postseason."
The Jumbos had an opportunity to secure a spot in the ICSA Team Racing National Championship finals as well this past weekend at the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) Team Racing Championships hosted by Dartmouth College, but fell short, finishing in seventh with a record of 3-11. Only the top three teams qualified for the national championship.
Tufts has been led all year by coach Ken Legler, who has coached 19 national championship teams and 92 All-Americans in his illustrious 31 years at the helm. Legler's experience will be key for a young team — stacked with 23 freshmen — at the National Championship later this month.
In addition to the team's post-season success, a few individual members of the squad recently received recognition from the NEISA. Levinson was named to the 2011 All-NEISA Second Team as a crew, and Haeger, who took over as skipper of the A-division boat late in the season, earned NEISA Rookie of the Year honors.
The No. 14 women's sailing team also enjoyed a successful season, just missing out on a return to the women's National Championships after finishing in eighth place at the Women's New England Championship at Bowdoin on April 24. The Jumbos were a mere four points away from a seventh-place finish and a spot at the ICSA National Championship.
