Sunday, November 20, 2016

College Match Racing Nationals Preview

J/22 sailing College Match Race Nationals (San Diego, CA)- The 2016-2017 College Sailing Match Racing Championship will be held November 18-20 in San Diego, CA. Hosted by San Diego Yacht Club, ten teams representing the seven college conferences will compete in SDYC’s matched fleet of one-design J/22 sailboats. Previously a fleet racing event in keelboats (mostly J/24s and Shields), this is now the eighth running of the match-racing format for the Shields Trophy.

The first winner of the event was Taylor Canfield (Boston College) who is now the #1 ranked match racer in the world. Nevin Snow (Georgetown) won the event twice, and has gone on to medal at the Youth Match Racing World Championship, win the Governor’s Cup twice and is the current reigning U.S. Match Racing Champion.

Reigning nationals champion Christophe Killian (College of Charleston), who has won the U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship twice, and represented the U.S. in the 2016 Youth World Match Racing Championship, will be defending his title.  The list of participating teams includes the following:

SAISA (South Atlantic)
• College of Charleston: Christophe Killian '18, John Thompson '18, Laura Masterson '20, and Howard Meyers '17
• University of South Florida: Sean Cornell '18, Brendan Feeney '18, Scott Ewing '18, and Mandi Dickie '18

NWICSA (Northwest)
• University of Washington: Kate Flanagan '17, Rachel Cohen '19, Athena Ebert '17, and Hayden Potter '20

MAISA (Middle Atlantic)
• Hobart and William Smith Colleges: Greiner Hobbs '18, Sam Hallowell '16, Noah Barrengos '18, and Maya Weber '20
• Georgetown University: AJ Reiter '17, Meaghan MacRae '18, Sean Segerblom '20, and Roger Dorr '18

MCSA (Midwest)
• University of Wisconsin: Charles Bocklet '17, James Sitter '17, Benjamin Witman '16, and Indigo Leslie '17

SEISA (Southeast)
• Texas A&M Galveston: John Hanna '19, Haley Walker '18, Ian Beck '19, and Jonathan Sager '20

PCCSC (Pacific Coast)
• University of Southern California - Matthew Hecht '16, Melissa Schem '18, Paul Chyz '18, and Peter Wong '18

NEISA (New England)
• Boston College - Scotty Sinks '18, Erika Reineke '17, and Peter Lynn '19
• Dartmouth University - Charles Lalumiere '17, Nathaniel Greason '17, and Rebecca McElvain '19

Report courtesy of Craig Leweck/ Scuttlebutt.  For more College Sailing Match Race Nationals information.