May 22, 2006
CHARLESTON, SC--The Old Dominion University women's sailors travel toCharleston, SC to compete in the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Women'sDinghy National Championships, May 24-26. Action will take place on the Cooper River (J. Stewart Walker Sailing Complex/ Patriots Point Marina) as the College of Charleston is the host school.
ODU has won 15 national championships Overall since 1982, The Lady Monarchs have captured three in the women's dinghy class, the last coming in 2002 in Honolulu, HI.
Sailing for the Lady Monarchs will be Cara DiSAnti(Seacliff, NY.) with Alissa Ayers (Trenton, NJ.) in the A Division. Mo Castruccio(Pleasanton, CA.) with Elyssa Albert (Leesburg, VA.) in the B Division. Alternates will be Jaci Finney (Hampton, VA.-Kecoughtan HS) and Jenica Ryan . ODU ranked 15th nationally and qualified by finishing fifth at the MAISA District Championships.
"We have a strong team with experience," said head coach Mitch Brindley. "Castruccio has a solid shot to win B Division. We have been just short of the mark muchof the year, but these championships could be a real breakthrough for the team. We havespent a lot of time sailing in Charleston with this team over the last two years, and we hada great week of practice in preparation for this."
Competing in the championships with ODU are Boston College, College of Charleston, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Harvard, Hobart-William Smith, St. Mary's College(Md.), Stanford, the University of Texas, Tufts, University of Hawaii, University of Michigan, South Florida, the University of Washington, Wisconsin, Navy, and Yale.
The ICSA brings together sailors representing seven North American conferencesto compete in three distinctive events. Weather permitting, each division sails eighteen20 to 30 minute fleet races over three days for a total of 36 races. A team's final score isdetermined by the combined results of its sailors in A and B divisions.
Following the action on collegiatesailing.org.