ITHACA, N.Y. -- A day after claiming the No. 6 ranking in college sailing, the Big Red women won its first-ever conference championship with a thrilling comeback victory at the MAISA Women's on Cayuga Lake.
The Big Red set itself up for a big spring with unprecedented fall success, as the conference title was the fifth regatta win, along with taking No. 1 in the MAISA women's poll for the first time in school history and a best-ever ranking in Sailing World's national poll.
Coming down to the final race, Hobart and William Smith stood atop the field (84) by a single point over the Big Red (85), with Penn (89) and George Washinton (90) in the mix. Freshman
Brooke Shachoy and sophomore
Becca Jordan took it home, placing third - two spots ahead of the Statesmen - to overtake the perennial league contenders in the final standings. The finish also gave Cornell a win in B division, with
Daisy Holthus (races 1-3) and
Kimberly Wong (races 1-3) jooining Shachoy and Jordan in the success. Cornell won four of the 10 starts and finished in the top three in three other races.
A division was just as competitive, with
Gabby Rizika being joined by
Diana Otis (races 1-6) and
Miranda Sannino (races 7-10) on the weekend. Cornell's 49 points put it third overall.
In addition, Cornell also took fifth at the Truxtun Umsted Coed Showcase at Navy. A division, with Clark Uhl (races 1-10) and Phillip Schofield (races 11-18) as skippers and
Adeline Sutton (races 1-10) and Ethan Andersen (races 11-18) as crew took third overall and tied Eckerd with 91 points and had one race in and five top five finishes.
Sebby Turner skippered B division with
Pia Corujo (races 1-10) and Greg Moore (races 11-18) were crew.
Sailing closes out the fall when the War Memorial beginning on Saturday, Oct. 27 at Navy. A year ago, the Big Red placed seventh at the coed championship.
