REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Stanford earned its third conference title of the year on Saturday, winning the PCCSC Match Race Championships. Stanford beat out Hawaii with a clean sweep in the third round sail off to secure the victory.
"Winning the Match Race Champs, at home was no small thing," said head sailing coach Chris Klevan. "The competition was solid and pushed us to be better."
Stanford, the hosts of the regatta, competed against four conference opponents in Hawaii, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly, and Cal Maritime Academy.
"Securing the Pacific Coast Championships ensures a berth at the ICSA National Championship in November," added Klevan. "We have a new boat and a new team together, backed by veterans, Wiley Rogers and AnaClare Sole. We're looking forward to seeing what we can do at the Championship."
Along with Rogers and Sole, two freshmen Konstantinos Michalopoulos and Jack Baldwin took control of the second boat to help guide Stanford to the victory.
Meanwhile, the Cardinal were also competing in the Women's ACC Finals in Kings Point, New York. Stanford sailed among the best in the country, and finished sixth place overall in a field of 18 teams.
"We didn't earn the result we wanted in challenging conditions," explained Klevan. "We see the bar and will adjust our process at practice to meet and exceed the level set by our competition."
The weather changed frequently throughout the weekend, creating variable and mixed conditions. Despite warm temperatures on Saturday, there was little wind to begin the event. On Sunday, the conditions allowed sailing to begin in the morning, but following race 10A, there was no more wind, forcing the fleet to return to shore.
Michelle Lahrkamp took command as the skipper of the A boat while Patricia Gerli and Grace Austin combined to crew for each of the A division races. In the B division, Hannah Freeman and Venessa Lahrkamp took control as skippers, splitting the races while Abigail Tindall crewed each of the B competitions.
Stanford's third regatta of the weekend, the Truxtun Umsted, took place in Annapolis, Maryland. Among a field of 14 teams, the Cardinal finished sixth overall.
"I'm encouraged by the effort put forward by this group," said Klevan. "We were a little under the weather and perhaps that hurt us in the big breeze. Nonetheless, we pushed and came through with a decent result."
In the A division, Stanford earned the third best score among all teams with 56 points, only behind eventual winner Georgetown and Pennsylvania. Chapman Petersen and Isabelle McNabb sailed each of the 10 A division races for the Cardinal.
In the B boat, Justin Lim and Laurel Foster combined for 69 points and seventh in the division. Like the A boat, Lim and Foster sailed in each of the ten races in the division throughout the regatta.
Stanford returns to action next weekend in the Coed ACC Final and the Yale Women's competition.
