(San Diego, CA)– The 2016 College Sailing Match Racing Nationals, hosted
by San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC), concluded last weekend on San Diego
Bay. After three days of competitive racing on SDYC’s fleet of matched
one-design J/22 class sailboats, Georgetown University won the Cornelius
Shields Sr. Trophy, emblematic of the college match-racing champion.The final day of racing consisted of a knockout round for 9th and 10th place, Quarter Finals, Semi-Finals, Petite Finals and Finals. Race Committee was able to pull off all races with winds at 5-7 knots.
After the Semi-Finals, Dartmouth College and College of Charleston raced for the first to 2 points in the Petite Finals. Dartmouth won the first two races and was first to two points, making them the third place finishers and College of Charleston fourth in the overall standings.
Georgetown University and Hobart & William Smith Colleges faced off in the Finals. Due to slow winds at the end of the day, Race Committee changed the format to declaring the first team to 2 points as the winner. Since Georgetown won the first race and HWS Colleges won the second race, it came down to the 3rd race where Georgetown University finished first, and ultimately won the overall championship.
Coach Janel Zarkowsky reflected on how it felt when Georgetown won. "It feels great. We realized that Georgetown has won 3 out of the last 5 match racing championships. It feels good to be developing a team with that many wins. One of the takeaways from this weekend is that the fastest boat always wins. So if you put 90% effort into being the fastest, the match racing becomes really easy.”
Georgetown alumnus Nevin Snow joined Zarkowsky on the water today to support the Hoyas. Snow, a San Diego native, won this title twice during his college career and is currently the #2 match racer in the country. Georgetown University won the Coed Nationals in May that was also raced in San Diego Bay. The winning team consisted of AJ Reiter '17, Meaghan MacRae '18, Sean Segerblom '20, and Roger Dorr '18.
HWS Colleges, coached by Scott Ikle, finished second overall. Ikle was proud of his team for placing second after the exciting last three races of the weekend against Georgetown. “Collegiate match racing has come a long way and this weekend's top teams were all great competitors. All of the teams here were well prepared, which made it even more fun to be a part of." Sailing for HWS Colleges was Greiner Hobbs '18, Sam Hallowell '16, Noah Barrengos '18, and Maya Weber '20.
Dartmouth College also had another great day of sailing, focusing on good handling and boat speed throughout each race. Though they were not able to beat Georgetown in the Semi-Finals, Coach David Thompson was happy to finish third after winning against College of Charleston in the Petite Final.
“It was bittersweet. We have three seniors on the boat; so placing in the top 3 was a good way to cap their season. I'm 90% positive that our skipper, Charlie, is going to keep match-racing in the future. So, the match-racing world has not seen the last of him, that’s for sure!”
Representing Dartmouth College for the weekend was Charles Lalumiere '17, Nathaniel Greason '17, Rebecca McElvain '19 and Madeline Cooney '17. McElvain is currently the #8 women's match-racer in the U.S. and Lalumiere is the #6 match racer in the U.S. Sailing Match Race National open rankings. For more College Sailing Match Race Nationals information
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