All-American skipper Stu McNay ’05 steered the coed sailing team to a third place finish at the Atlantic Coast Championships this weekend at MIT.
The nationally-ranked No. 3 Bulldogs, down from No. 2 in October, finished behind Brown and Harvard in the final regatta of the fall season. The Elis completed the competition with a total of 249 points, just five points out of second place and 31 out of first.
Despite a disqualification in the 16th race, McNay and crews Meredith Killion ’05 and Benoit Bewley ’05 earned first place in the A division with a total of 79 points and eight top finishes in 18 races. Dartmouth finished in second place with a score of 95 and Brown in third with a score of 105.
McNay said this win was especially meaningful considering all the near misses he and Killion had this fall.
“All fall we’ve finished between fourth and second,” McNay said. “To cap it off with a win, at arguably our most important event, felt like a triumph.”
In the B division, Zach Brown ’08 and Phil Stemler ’07 secured ninth place with a total of 170 points. Brown and crew Sarah Himmelfarb ’06 sailed in 14 of the 18 races, earning one first place finish. Stemler and crew Hilary Shapiro ’08 sailed in the remaining four races.
Himmelfarb said that the treacherous conditions of the Charles River posed a challenge to the team.
“The Charles River is a really difficult place to sail,” she said. “The shifty wind conditions mean that it’s very easy to go to from first to last in the same race. In many of our races, we were in the top three until the last leg.”
Himmelfarb said that although she was disappointed with the ninth place finish, she was pleased with the Bulldogs’ overall performance.
“Even though our performance in this event didn’t really match how well we have done in other events, I thought that we persevered through some very trying competition,” she said. “I’m really proud of how the team did overall.”
The women’s sailing team, currently ranked No. 3 in the nation, also saw success this weekend, placing second overall at the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championships, held at the College of Charleston.
All-American Molly Carapiet ’06 and crews Jennifer Hoyle ’05 and Emily Hill ’07 finished third in the A division while Hill and crews Meghan Pearl ’06 and Kendra Emhiser ’07 took second place in the B division.
The sailors were faced with unusually heavy currents, which proved problematic for the Eli women.
“The conditions were pretty windy with flat water and a lot of current,” Carapiet said. “Our whole team likes breezy conditions, but we aren’t so used to the current, so that was difficult for us.”
Carapiet said she was satisfied with the second place finish but the team still has more work to do.
“I thought that we sailed well as a team,” she said. “We still have a lot of improving to do in the spring, but we ended the season on a good note.”
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