April 12, 2004
San Francisco - The Cardinal battled neck and neck with the Trojans over two days of racing off the cityfront at this year's St Francis Intersectional regatta. The annual two-day event (April 10-11) draws the top teams from the West Coast as their last major event before the Pacific Coast Championships (to be hosted by Stanford May 1-2).
With USC's Mikee Anderson/Vanessa Decollibus earning an untouchable lead after the first day, the fight in A Division was for 2nd place. Sailing for the Cardinal, Brian Haines and Lucy Horton battled for 2nd in A against UW's Brendan Fahey/Kim Kishi. Regaining the lead in the penultimate race, Haines/Horton fouled and took a penalty turn. The duo made a great comeback in the 24-boat fleet, finishing 13th overall. However, 13th put Haines/Horton solidly behind UW - with 3rd in A-Division.
Dominating in B-Division, Stanford's Pete Deming and Taylor Clark worked a comfortable 9-point margin between themselves and USC's Harrison Turner/Lessa Grunefelder. "Pete and Taylor sailed their most consistent regatta to date," commented Coach Jay Kehoe, "Their confidence will take the team through a tough PCC's next month."
Dominating over all the other Women's teams on the West Coast, The Stanford Women earned an impressive 7th overall in the regatta, and top women's team. In A-Division, Jen Porter/Anna Vu started each day in the lighter breeze with a series of top-10 finishes. When the breeze built, Liz "The Hammer" Shearer came off the bench to crew for Porter. The combination earned the Cardinal Women's A-Division 7th overall in 8th in A-Division. Sailing In B-Div, Ashley Frush and Joanna Madsen braved both light an heavy winds together and earned 9th. "This was a great confidence booster going into our Women's PCC's next weekend in Hawaii," explained Coach Kehoe.
This weekend, Haines/Horton, Deming/Clark and Emery Wager head to New York to sail the Admiral's Cup, a 3-Division regatta at the US Merchant Marine Academy at King's Point. This is the last major Intersectional event before each districts' qualifiers for the Nationals.
The Women and the additional Coed Sailors will head to Cascade Locks, Oregon to sail the Rainier Cup regatta. "We're heading up to compete and do research on the conditions at the Gorge site," said Assistant Coach Brent Harrill. The Rainier event is held at the site to be used for this year's Women's, Coed and Team Race Nationals (May 26-June 8, 2004).
St. Francis Regatta Results A, B & Totals 1. U Southern Calif 39 53 92 2. Stanford 59 44 103 3. U Washington 51 82 133 4. UC Irvine 82 59 141 5. U Hawaii 61 86 147 6. UC Santa Barbara 100 88 188 7. Stanford Women 107 120 227 8. U Southern Cal Women 89 139 228 9. U Hawaii Women 130 113 243 10. UC Santa Barbara Wom 130 124 254 11. UC Irvine Women 178 87 265 12. UC Berkeley 125 151 276 13. Cal Maritime 170 135 305 14. UC San Diego 195 182 377 15. Portland State U 185 201 386 16. UCLA 216 221 437 17. Western Washington 225 222 447 18. U Oregon 222 230 452 19. CSU Monterey Bay 212 253 465 20. Notre Dame 225 255 480 21. UC Santa Cruz 272 230 502 22. Orange Coast College 280 288 568 23. CSU Northridge 287 297 584 24. Santa Clara U 323 325 648