ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell sailing team used friendly seas to take second at the Fall North Qualifier, earning a coveted spot to compete in the War Memorial on Oct. 28 at Hobart and William Smith. The runner-up finish highlighted a busy week for the Big Red.
Racing in four regattas and three states, the Big Red had individuals attempting to stay on track to qualify for singlehanded nationals at Navy, but three women and two men fell short of qualifying. The Big Red also sent a team to compete for the Hood Trophy, taking 14th.
But it was a runner-up finish to Hobart and William Smith on Cayuga Lake that put the Big Red into the War Memorial, joining the winning squad, as well as SUNY Maritime and Fordham. Finishing with 47 team points, Cornell won a pair of A Division and one B Division race among the seven starts. Thomas Balk and
Sebby Turner skippered the B entry, with
Kate Selley and
Adeline Sutton on crew. The foursome combined to take second with the lowest finish a fifth out of 16 teams in the very first race of the weekend. Connor Kelter and Gerard Eastman teamed with
Diana Otis to win the first two races and take this overall among the 16 teams in A division.
Gillian Boehringer was the top finisher among three qualifiers to the Faye Bennett MAISA Women's Singles at Navy. Boehringer took 10th with 97 points, three spots ahead of teammate
Gabby Rizika (111), who was three spots ahead of
Pia Corujo (157 points). The top five finishers advanced to nationals.
At the 35th Professor Stedman Hood Trophy at Tufts, the Big Red tandems of Clark Uhl and
Kimberly Wong (A Division) and Luke Andersen and
Becca Jordan (B Division) took 14th overall. The B division entry was 10th, though only through four races as sailing was abandoned late Saturday afternoon and was not resumed due to lack of wind on the lake.
On the men's side, a top six finish was necessary to advance to regional finals. Tom O'Shea (ninth, 93 points) and Phillip Schofield (10th, 94 points) were neck-and-neck throughout, but fell just short of qualifying for the Carl Van Duyne in two weekends.
