Yale Athletics
With the New England Team Race Championships less than seven days away, the No. 3 Yale coed sailing team continued to prepare with two final tuneup regattas before this weekend’s conference championship, which serves as a national championship qualifier. Also on the water on Saturday and Sunday, the Yale women’s team competed in its penultimate competition this weekend ahead of next weekend’s home race.
The coed team took second place in the 16-team Lynne Marchiando Regatta and won the 13-team Boston University Trophy. In Rhode Island, the women’s team placed third of 18 teams at the Dellenbaugh Women’s Trophy.
“We didn’t have our starting team and still beat all the other teams that were ranked in front of us by a significant margin,” said Nick Hernandez ’19, who competed at the Lynn Machiando Regatta. “This weekend provided us with good traction for our national championship qualifier on Saturday. We focused on consistency throughout the day and relying on our speed and team racing skills to convert races when necessary.”
Although the Bulldogs started slowly at the Lynne Marchiando Regatta — dropping a few races early in the preliminary round — they came back in the gold rounds of six. Despite the early deficit, the Elis climbed up to second in the final standings with a record of 18–6.
Second place felt a little sweeter than usual for the Yale teams on the Charles River, as the Bulldogs finished ahead of No. 1 Roger Williams and No. 2 Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the regatta. The third-ranked Elis also defeated No. 6 College of Charleston, which took home the national champion title last year.
Other top-10 foes No. 7 Stanford and No. 10 Harvard also fell to the three Yale boats of skippers Shawn Harvey ’21, Malcolm Lamphere ’18 and Nick Hernandez ’19 and crews KB Knapp ’18, Kira Woods ’19 and Sonia Lingos-Utley ’21.
“I think our main strength was putting the early losses behind us and focusing on using our boat speed to win most of the races the rest of the regatta,” Knapp said. “Minimizing mistakes was key and we tried to make things simple by first fleet racing and then team racing when a move up had to be made. We are one of the fastest teams in the country, so we just need to utilize that strength.”
At the Boston University Trophy, the Bulldogs finished first after a competitive final set. Skipper Nicholas Marwell ’21 and crew Carolina Colwell ’18 won first place in Division B, while skipper Christine Klingler ’20 and crew Catherine Mollerus ’21 placed fourth in Division A.
Although no top-10 teams competed at the event, Yale still faced stiff competition against No. 14 Boston University and No. 21 Coast Guard. The Bulldogs defeated the Terriers by just one point and the Bears by just three.
The women’s team also faced strong opposition this past weekend at the Dellenbaugh Women’s Trophy.
The Bulldogs had to push through inconsistent winds. Skipper Casey Klinger ’18 and crew Claudia Loiacono ’21 competed in the A Divisions and placed fifth. Skipper Louisa Nordstrom ’21 competed alongside crews Graceann Nicolosi ’20 and Claire Huebner ’18 in the B Division, completing eight races and finishing third.
Next Saturday and Sunday, the women’s team will be competing at the Emily Wick, which will be hosted at Yale.
Razan Sulieman | razan.sulieman@yale.edu