The sailing team competed in its final events of the fall season last weekend. The Polar Bears put up solid finishes and brought their season to a close on a promising note.
After qualifying at the Nickerson Trophy last weekend, the team of Jimmy Rohman '13, Zac Fox '13, Katie Doble '13, and Isabel Low '13 headed back to Boston University for the Freshman Intersectional.
Competing against the top first year sailors on the Atlantic Coast, the Polar Bears placed ninth out of 14 teams. Doble and Low had particularly strong finishes in the B-division, including one first-place finish.
"This past weekend had its ups and downs," Doble said, "but was really informative as to where we stand in relation to other freshmen sailors from around the country."
First year sailors also travelled with the coed team to Newport, Rhode Island, to compete in the Rhode Island State Championships held at Salve Regina.
DJ Hatch '11 and Ben Berg '11 competed in the A-division, while Alex Sutula '13 and Mae Speight '13 competing in the B-division. Sutula and Speight were able to contend with the difficult conditions on the Newport Harbor to finish ninth in their division. The team finished 13th overall out of the 20 teams at the event.
"It was a very competitive fleet at BU and Katie and Isabel were consistently getting off the line and were sailing smart during a tricky weekend on the river," said Head Coach Frank Pizzo.
"Alex and Mae also had a good performance down in R.I., finishing ninth in B, a few points out of seventh. Both of these pairings will assume larger roles on our co-ed and women's team so these results are promising for the spring," he said.
The team also competed in two events on the Charles River in Boston. At MIT, the Polar Bears took third place at the Noringer, an event targeted for sailors with less competition experience.
Members of the women's team and coed team joined forces to compete at the Horn Trophy at Harvard.
Although the team will be losing a number of its key players in the spring who will be studying abroad, there will be opportunity for some new talent to step up.