NORFOLK, Va. – The Cornell sailing team took seventh at the Sperry Women's National Championships on Friday afternoon, holding off No. 1 Yale with a strong second day of racing. Boston College won the national title by tiebreaker over Charleston with 246 points. The Big Red ended the 18 races with 309 points, posting its highest finish since being elevated to varsity status.
The B division boat of freshmen
Daisy Holthus and
Adeline Sutton finished fifth among the 18 teams with 115 points, just three out of placing in the top four. Overall, the tandem had 11 top five efforts in the 18 races, including winning two.
The A division boat featured
Sebby Turner (races 1-4) and
Gabby Rizika (races 5-18) as skipper, while
Diana Otis (races 1-14) and
Tara Bergstrom (races 15-18) made up the crew. Cornell took 13th among the 18 teams with 194 points and had four top five finishes, all coming on day one.
Gillian Boehringer and
Kimberly Wong were the reserves for the Big Red.
The Big Red set itself up for success with a strong first day, placing sixth through 12 of the 18 races. The B division tandem of Holthus and Sutton had four top five finishes in the final six races, including placing third to close out the regatta and hold off the top-ranked Bulldogs.
Following Boston College and Charleston at the top, Hobart and William Smith (258), MIT (265), Coat Guard (278) and Brown (300) made up the top six. Cornell followed in seventh, with Yale (312), Rhode Island (325) and Dartmouth (352) rounding out the top 10.
The Big Red will compete in the LaserPerformance College Sailing Team Race National Championship beginning tomorrow morning.
