KINGS POINT, N.Y. - Stanford are crowned national champions for the second time this spring after topping the field in the ICSA Open Fleet Race Championship on Friday. It marked the first time in program history the Cardinal has won the ICSA Open Fleet Race Championship and the team's first open title since 1997 when Stanford took home the ICSA Open Team Race trophy.
The Cardinal earned the win with 93 points, beating out a strong field of 18 teams, including the 2023 ICSA Women's Team Race Champion Yale, the 2023 ISCA Open Team Race Champion Harvard, and last year's winner in the competition, Tulane.
Stanford advanced out of the western semifinal on Wednesday in fourth place, qualifying as one of the top nine teams in the west. The Cardinal scored 193 in the preliminary competition, trailing Georgetown in first, Harvard in second, and Dartmouth in third.
In the championship round, nine races were sailed over Thursday and Friday, June 1 and June 2. The Cardinal jumped into first place during race six in the A division and never looked back, maintaining the lead through to the finish.
Michelle Lahrkamp and Ellie Harned were the leaders for Stanford in the A division, finishing with a division-best mark of 37 points, 12 less than Harvard's 49 in second place.
In the B division, Vanessa Lahrkamp and Abigail Tindall led the way, guiding Stanford to the third-best total. The Cardinal's 56 points trailed only Yale and Brown in the division.
Grace Austin, Jack Baldwin, Gwendolyn Donahue, Sophie Fisher, Hannah Freeman, Patricia Gerli, and Justin Lim all competed for the Cardinal in Kings Point as well.
The Cardinal concludes its spring season as two-time national champions in the ICSA Open Fleet Race and the ICSA Women's Fleet Race. Stanford never finished below second place in a championship regatta this season, taking second at the ICSA Women's Team Race and second at the ICSA Open Team race, making this Stanford's most successful campaign in history.
