The women’s sailing team qualified for Nationals with a strong showing at last weekend’s Jerry Reed Trophy, hosted by Boston College. The co-ed team also competed in the Admiral’s Cup at Kings Point in New York, finishing eleventh out of 20 teams.
At the Jerry Reed Trophy, where the top eight of the 16 teams competing qualify for Nationals, the Polar Bears finished in seventh place overall. Erin Mullins ’16, Dana Bloch ’17 and Julia Rew ’16 took seventh place in the A Division. Courtney Koos ’16 and Sydney Jacques ’18 finished ninth in the B Division.
“We sailed a pretty smart event,” Head Coach Frank Pizzo said. “We didn’t have any major mistakes. There were no fouls and no starting issues, which can eat into your score line.”
Team chemistry and a strong practice mentality have been instrumental in both the women’s and co-ed teams’ success throughout the season.
“We’ve done a really good job supporting each other,” Charlotte Williamson ’15 said. “We also do a good job in practice of simulating our competitions. In practice, people act and sail the way they would on the weekends and I think that’s really important.”
Brown University and Salve Regina will host Nationals in Newport, R.I. May 25th through 28 in Newport, Rhode Island. In preparation, the women’s team will practice in conditions they may encounter at the championship.
“We’re going to try to get into conditions that are similar to what there can be at Newport, so getting into open water and getting into breezier conditions will be important,” Pizzo said.
Looking forward, he said that nerves will play a key factor in the big race.
“This time of year, we’re focused on executing what we need to do given the pressures of the championship,” Pizzo said. “We’re trying to stay loose, have fun, not worry about how we’re going to do and just focus on the skill sets and the things we can control.”
The qualifying event for the co-ed team will take place this weekend at the New England Dinghy Championships at Salve Regina.
In this past weekend’s Admiral Cup, Jack McGuire ’17 and Williamson placed fifteenth in the A Division. Michael Croteau ’15 and Mimi Paz ’17 finished ninth in the B Division. Matt Lyons ’17 rounded out the scoring with an eleventh place finish in the C Division.
To prepare for this upcoming weekend’s regatta, the co-ed team is looking to sail more consistently and improve on what it’s been practicing on all season.
“At this point, we know how to do well,” Williamson said. “This week is about keeping everything relatively consistent and working on the little things we can do to get that much faster, but we’re not really learning anything new. We’re just fine-tuning at this point of the season.”
The top eight of the 18 teams competing at the New England Dinghy Championships will qualify for Nationals. The co-ed team islooking to qualify for the championship for the second consecutive year.
“We want to start the event with good starts and good boat speeds and put ourselves in the position on Sunday to potentially qualify,” Pizzo said. “We want to put ourselves in the hunt and not stress out. A lot of it is focusing on what really matters. We’re going to focus on our conditions and what’s going to be important for those conditions and not necessarily how we’re finishing in those races right away.”