March 14, 2007
Annapolis, MD. - The spring women's event hosted by the Naval Academy is one of the best and deepest events on the spring calendar. This year was certainly no different, and probably attracted more teams because part of the spring National Championships will be held at Naval Academy at the end of May.
On Saturday morning, the winds were light to medium from the South-Southwest. Racing took place in the river adjacent to the Academy. Junior Evan Brown with Senior crew Joanna Madsen got off to a rocky start in 420s in A Division, posting an 11, 11, but quickly bounced back with a 3,1 in the second set. Meanwhile, in B division Sophomore Taylor Grimes and Senior Katherine Schlosser were the picture of consistency finishing with a 5, 4, 3, 1, 5, 3 in a field of 18 teams.
After the lunch break the course was moved out to Triton Point in a building southwest breeze. The breeze topped 20 knots. Brown/Madsen continued to improve their scores in the big breeze, capping the day with a 1, 1. After 11 races in A division they were in 3rd place. Brown said, "I felt like we could out-hike everyone!" and gave credit to the team's strength and conditioning coach Juan Pablo Reggiardo for getting them into such great shape. Grimes/Schlosser continued to perform reliably, and credit their strong results to blazing FJ speed. They ended the day in 3rd place in their division, and the team was in 2nd place overall.
A long day of racing on Saturday, meant a short day of racing on Sunday. A medium 10-12 knot breeze from the Northwest prevailed. Evan Brown and Joanna Madsen had a great run in FJs, the boats that Stanford practices in, scoring 3, 2, 1, 2, 6, 2, giving them the winning edge in A division. This was especially exciting because this was their first start in A Division this season. Skipper Evan Brown praised her crew, saying Jo "is probably more critical [to the success of the boat]. Let's be honest. Jo is a hottie." In B Division, the ladies faltered a little in the 420s, and had difficulty coming back after bad starts. They dropped to fourth place in their division, and the team finished 3rd overall.
"I'm pleased that they have stepped up and they're beginning to sail as a team," noted coach Jay Kehoe who was pleased with their overall performance.
Final Results:Finish Teams A B Total 1. Charleston 107 55 162 2. Navy 110 58 168 3. Stanford 88 84 172 4. St. Mary's 100 74 174 5. Yale 90 120 210 6. Harvard 123 145 268 7. Georgetown 127 143 270 8. ODU 164 147 311 9. URI 156 187 343 10. USC 136 256 392 11. UC Irvine 177 217 394 12. Brown 255 145 400 13. William Smith 215 199 414 14. Hawaii 231 202 433 15. South Florida 230 205 435 16. Connecticut College 250 229 479 17. Michigan 199 294 493 18. Maryland 312 312 624