STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford sailing returns to the water as the host for a pair of regattas this weekend, as the Cardinal welcomes the PCCSC to Redwood City for the Women's Fall Championships and the Top-9 Invite.
LAST TIME OUT » Stanford sailing claimed the title at the Open Atlantic Coast Championship in Boston, highlighting a two-regatta slate for the Cardinal this past weekend.
Warm conditions limited the event to just seven races over the two-day event, but Stanford was able to come out on top with 92 points, earning a narrow victory over Dartmouth (96), Tulane (99), Harvard (104), and Coast Guard (106).
In the A division, Vanessa Lahrkamp and Alice Schmid finished third with 52 points, slotting in the Harvard and Tulane tandems.
Thomas Sitzmann and Ellie Harned bookended the B division competition with a pair of race wins, tallying 40 points on the weekend to finish just one point behind Dartmouth.
The Open ACCs win completed the Atlantic Coast Championship sweep for Stanford after earning the Women's ACC title on October 13.
"To win both Atlantic Coast Championships against the field most similar to what we will see at Nationals is a unique accomplishment and one this team has never achieved in its history," head coach Chris Klevan. "Those victories should give this young team a lot of confidence going into the off-season. However, we can expect our competition to be especially motivated and we must work harder to maintain what is a slim margin."
Down the road in New Haven, Conn., the Cardinal finished in ninth place at the Yale Women's Regatta.
Sophie Fisher and Alexandra Jones finished in fifth place in Division A with 91 points, earning a win in race six. The Division B pairing of Ava Cornell and Shay Wood finished in 10th place with 129 points.
"This was not the finish we were looking for, but I expect our sailors who went to Yale to return to campus motivated to continue improving," Klevan added. "This team has a lot of potential, but potential can never be realized without work."
Stanford returns to action next weekend with the PCCSC Women's Fall Championships and the Top-9 Invite.
LAST SEASON » Stanford cemented itself as the best women’s sailing program in the nation in 2024, completing the sweep of the ICSA Women’s Team and Fleet Race Championships, also becoming back to back champions in the Women’s Fleet.
Stanford’s fall season began with eight regatta wins. Along with the success on the water, the Cardinal sailors also celebrated their 2023 trophies, as the team received its championship rings at a football game.
Stanford picked up right where it left off to start the spring season, winning six straight regattas. The Cardinal went on to claim four conference championship trophies, taking both the women and open divisions of the team and fleet races.
To cap off the season before Nationals began, Stanford claimed the PCCSC Open Team Race title and the Thompson trophy over the same weekend. The Cardinal went 38-1 across the two events to take the wins in a conference championship and a premier interconference trophy.
The Cardinal then headed to the Charles River where it competed in four straight national championships hosted by MIT. In the first regatta, Stanford earned a top five finish, taking fifth place in the ICSA Open Team Race. The result was Stanford's sixth straight top-five finish, dating back to 2018.
Directly following the open team race, Stanford captured its first title of the 2024 spring season. The Cardinal took the trophy in dominant fashion, as Stanford sailed to an 18-1 record to top the field at the ICSA Women's Team Race National Championship.
In the following national championship event, Stanford claimed yet another title. The Cardinal took its second straight ICSA Women's Fleet Race title and its fifth national title overall, topping the field on the Charles River in Massachusetts.
The title was Stanford's fourth national title in the last calendar year (2023 - ICSA Women's Fleet, ICSA Open Fleet; 2024 - ICSA Women's Team, ICSA Women's Fleet). The Cardinal also won multiple national titles in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history.
Following Stanford's dominant performance in the national championships, the Cardinal took home plenty of individual accolades.
Vanessa Lahrkamp was named the Quantum Women's College Sailor of the Year, the second in program history as Lahrkamp joins her sister who earned the accolade in 2020. Vanessa Lahrkamp was instrumental in leading Stanford to the ICSA Women's Team and Fleet Race titles in 2024, also earning the title of PCCSC Women's Skipper of the Year.
Vanessa Lahrkamp also earned two All-America awards, claiming a nod as an ICSA Women's Skipper All-American and an ICSA Open Skipper Honorable Mention selection. It's the second straight year Lahrkamp was honored in both the Women's and Open divisions.
Michelle Lahrkamp also earned two All-America awards for the second straight season, being named both an ICSA Women's Skipper and Open Skipper All-American.
Hannah Freeman earned her second consecutive ICSA Women's Skipper All-America award while Thomas Sitzmann joined the Lahrkamp sisters with an ICSA Open Skipper All-America nod.
Stanford also had three crews named All-Americans. Alice Schmid, Ellie Harned, and Gwendolyn Donahue were each named All-America Crews after their dominant performances led Stanford to two national titles.