NORFOLK, Va. -- The Cornell women's sailing team advanced to the Sperry Women's National Finals after placing eighth in the Western Semifinals over two days of sailing off Lambert's Point at Old Dominion University. The Big Red will be among 18 of the nation's top teams racing in the finals, which begin on Thursday, May 24 and will cover two days.
"It was close throughout the event and conditions were challenging," said head coach
Brian Clancy. "We had a hard time staying consistent, but we pulled off enough top finishes to move on. The next level will be tough, but the experience will be great for us."
The Big Red finished the 12 races in two divisions with a cumulative score of 209 points, just four out of seventh place and six points clear of 10th place Fordham, the first team out of qualifying for finals.
A Division, with
Gabby Rizika and
Tara Bergstrom in the boat, was ninth overall with 112 points. The tandem won Wednesday's second race after earning a second-place finish in Tuesday's second time out on the water. In all, eight of the 12 races were top 10 finishes.
Cornell's B division entry of
Daisy Holthus (races 1-6, 9-12) and
Sebby Turner (races 7-8) as skipper and
Adeline Sutton (races 1-10) and
Tara Bergstrom (races 11-12) as crew took 10th overall, tied with Navy in points (97), but earning the placement on a tiebreaker. The group earned three finishes in the top four, including second place in races 6 and 8 on Tuesday.
The Big Red's reserves were
Gillian Boehringer,
Diana Otis and
Kimberly Wong.
Cornell will be joined in the final by fellow Western qualifiers #2 Charleston, #12 Harvard, #5 Coast Guard, South Florida, #14 Dartmouth, #3 Boston College, #9 Georgetown and #19 Penn. The Eastern qualifiers were #1 Yale, #7 Hobart and William Smith, #13 MIT, #4 Brown, #11 Boston University, #10 Rhode Island, #6 Stanford, #8 George Washington and #15 Connecticut College. Cornell is ranked No. 15 in the latest Sailing World poll.
