Oct. 20, 2002
Annapolis, MD - After fourteen races over two days, Stanford's Ted Conrads '03 and crew Lucy Horton '05 earned first place overall in A-Division at the annual Navy Fall Intersectional. With twenty schools competing, Conrads & Horton managed nine top-5 finishes in the 14 race series. Even a last-ditch effort by National Champion St. Mary's College's (Maryland) skipper Danny Pletch was not enough to catch Conrads & Horton. "Ted and Lucy were consistent in the changing conditions," commented Coach Jay Kehoe, "they dominated the field of All-American skippers and crews." Freshman Chris Ralli '06 crewed for Conrads in race 6, when increased wind called for a heavier crew than Horton. The Conrads/Ralli duo won the race.
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"This finish is indicative of the incredible depth of our present Stanford Sailing team" Head Coach Jey Kehoe |
In B-Division, Dave Kenny '03 and Sonja Bebber '04 earned 10th overall. Kenny & Bebber saw their best finishes when the wind picked up and got stronger on Saturday, confirming the history of California sailors doing their best in windy conditions. In Sunday's light air, Ralli replaced Kenny to skipper for race 14 with Bebber as crew.
Navy Fall is considered the premier regatta of the fall season as it tests the depth of each team attending. In addition to the typical A and B divisions, held in doublehanded [two-person] boats, it adds the element of two singlehanded [one-person] divisions. Sailing in the C-Division, in Laser sailboats, was Stanford freshman Brian Haines. Recently qualifying for the Singlehanded Nationals by finishing second at the Pacific Coast Champs, Haines was able to size up much of his future competition at Navy. "Brian was up to pace with sailors like Andrew Campbell of Georgetown, who is campaigning for the 2004 Olympics," said Coach Kehoe. "This is a good sign for the Singlehanded Nationals [to be held in November in Texas]" Kehoe continued. Haines finished 4th in C-Division, and was the one competitor on the Stanford team to earn entirely top-9 finishes in a competitive 20-boat fleet.
Although not usually a Laser sailor, Jeff Allen '05 competed in D-Division for the Cardinal. He finsihed 8th in D, only dropping out of the top ten 3 times in 14 races.
Unfortunately, the Cardinal sailors' overall position was hurt by a mistake made by the Naval Academy Race Committee. When the RC lost the scores to two races, the races were re-sailed. Having clearly won one of the original races, Conrads & Horton asked for their original position reinstated. With the confusion of all twenty teams making similar requests for their best scores, the Stanford correction was omitted, leaving the Stanford team with 5 extra points in A-Division that ultimately left them tied with Navy, losing the tiebreaker for 5th place overall. "This finish is indicative of the incredible depth of our present Stanford Sailing team," explained Kehoe.
A B C D TOT
1. Georgetown 113 83 38 105 339 2. Kings Point 122 76 58 98 354 3. Hobart/WmSmith 104 97 96 60 357 4. NAVY 133 105 73 62 373 5. Stanford 73 113 78 109 373 6. St.Mary's 76 58 128 123 385 7. Tufts 90 97 116 86 389 8. ODU 111 74 133 108 426 9. Boston College 90 123 98 123 434 10. Charleston 113 79 192 63 447 11. Washington College 85 122 93 204 504 12. Yale 91 88 187 184 550 13. U/Washington 94 181 159 161 595 14. Queen's 192 148 147 170 657 15. Florida 194 237 180 119 730 16. Minnesota 224 206 153 185 768 17. Boston University 202 194 257 236 889 18. Texas A&M 272 270 236 220 998 19. Miami of Ohio 256 263 231 254 1004 20. Princeton 251 260 277 259 1047