May 27, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- ODU teetered between the top two spots at the 2009 ICSA Women's National Championship today, the final day of the event, and were just two points off the lead heading into the final race. The top-ranked Yale team won the final two races, though, and slipped past ODU for the win. Old Dominion took fourth place in an extremely tight regatta, powered by a terrific day two sailing from sophomore skipper Stephanie Roble and freshman Arianna Baker.
"I think we surprised a lot of teams," said head coach Mitch Brindley. "We had three great days and it was really just two bad races that cost us. That's all it takes in a close competition like this. I am very proud of the girls and how well they competed."
Roble and Baker, in B division racing, moved all the way up to third place overall with an excellent day of racing. In six races, Baker steered the Lady Monarchs B division boat to a pair of second place finishes and four more in the top five. The effort pushed Old Dominion back into the lead headed into the last two races, with 131 total points. ODU led Yale by 15 points and the College of Charleston by 17.
"Today was great for Steph and Arianna. They moved up in B division, finishing third, which was great. Also, Steph was named Honorable Mention All-American which is fantastic for her and the program."
ODU looked in good position, as in A division, junior skipper Katrina Williams and crew Alissa Ayres and Ashley Brusso had been cruising through the regatta. Before the final two races, Williams had steered the A division boat to a pair of victories and a top ten finish in all 12 races. The ODU boat was in control of A division sailing, leading the fleet for the majority.
In the final two races, though, Yale's Jane Macky and Marla Menninger would sail to a pair of first place efforts while the ODU tandem struggled for the first time all week. They posted an 18 and a 17 in the final two races to slip to third in A division and fourth overall.
"It came down to those last two races and the wheels just came off," said Coach Brindley. "In the first race, the girls were in fifth, but dropped to 18th after capsizing. A lot of boats were doing that this week, but our girls had managed not to until this point. Even after finishing at the back in that race, we still had a great shot to win in the final race - we needed to beat Yale by two boats and Katrina knew she had to go for it to do it."
Even with the 18th place finish, ODU was still just two points back of the lead heading into the final race. Head coach Mitch Brindley's Lady Monarchs were in good position for the first part of the last race, but at the leeward turn, ODU hit the mark and had to take a one-turn penalty, dropping them to the back.
ODU posted 83 points in both divisions for 166 total. The Lady Monarchs finished just one point behind Boston College for third, 11 back of Charleston for second and with just an 18-point deficit to the winning Elis from Yale University. The fourth place effort matches the best performance for the Lady Monarchs since the team won the event in 2002. ODU has finished fourth three times since.
Old Dominion will return to the water on June 1-3 for the ICSA/Gill Co-Ed Dinghy National Championship.
Final Results: ICSA Women's National Championship
Team A B TOT1. Yale 53 95 1482. Coll of Charleston 56 101 1573. Boston College 109 56 1654. ODU 83 83 1665. Brown Univ 114 83 1976. St. Mary's College 116 86 2027. Georgetown 127 81 2088. Dartmouth 120 91 2119. Connecticut Coll 125 124 24910. Harvard 133 136 26911. Boston Univ 159 138 29712. Stanford 135 170 30513. Eckerd Coll 163 160 32314. William Smith 154 174 32815. U. Rhode Island 186 144 33016. Western Washington 140 222 36217. Texas A&M Galveston 210 221 43118. Wisconsin 208 236 444