STANFORD, Calif. - No. 2 Stanford sailing wrapped up a busy weekend of competition on the Northeast waters, securing a pair of top-3 finishes at the Dellenbaugh Trophy Women's Team Race and Marchiando Trophy Open Team Race.
The Dellenbaugh Women's Team Race, hosted by Brown, saw the Cardinal record a 12-3 weekend record to finish second in the event, falling one race short of champion Yale. The competition began with a 10-team round-robin on Saturday, where Stanford registered six wins against the field to qualify for the Gold Top 4 alongside Brown, Harvard, and Yale.
The second portion of the competition included two rounds of Gold Top 4 races, where Stanford went a combined 6-0 against the top teams in the weekend. A third round of Gold Top 4 races was slated to take place on Sunday afternoon, but conditions wouldn't cooperate and Yale was deemed the winner after riding an undefeated round-robin record to a regatta-leading 13 wins.
Vanessa Lahrkamp, Sophie Fisher, and Ellie Harned handled skipper duties in the Cardinal's three boats, while crew duties were assigned to Alice Schmid, Ashtyn Tierney, and Kit Harned.
"Brown is the nationals venue for this year's team championship race in three weeks, and I thought we put our best foot forward," head coach Chris Klevan said. "A lot of people might look at the scoreboard and say we beat the top team in two of three races but that is not my main takeaway. We have what it takes to win another championship, and I believe we are willing to get in the mud to achieve this. However, the goal is not to simply get to a level where winning it all is possible. The objective is to reach a point where winning is inevitable, and we are not yet at that point."
At the Marchiando Trophy regatta, the Cardinal raced in three rounds of round-robin competition, recording a 12-9 record on the weekend to finish third behind Boston College and Roger Williams.
Stanford went 4-3 in the opening round, inlcuding 1-2-3 sweeps over MIT and Rhode Island, before tallying a 3-4 record in the second round. The final round of sailing turned out to be Stanford's best effort of the weekend, recording a 5-2 record with wins over Boston College, MIT, Rhode Island, RWU, Tufts, and Tulane to jump into the top three of the team standings.
The Cardinal was led by skippers Dylan Sih, Lucas Woodworth, Thomas Whidden, Thomas Sitzmann, and Reade Decker, while Shay Wood, Abby Baird, Alexandra Jones, and Piper Blackband served as crew for the regatta.
"It is easy to forget how young our team is. They all work hard and take this sport seriously," Klevean added about his Marchiando Trophy contingent. "I find myself thinking of them as more mature than they actually are, and it is easy to compare them to some of the greats who have graduated in recent years. Greats that put in the work and learned these lessons critical for growth long before those present currently could witness. This team struggled in Boston last weekend, partially due to the strange conditions present as the breeze tries to make its way through the ever-growing city, as well as the strain training over spring break puts on the team. There must be growing pains and some discomfort on the road to a championship. This team isn't just getting better, working harder, but they are getting tougher and I think they are starting to realize what it will take to be great."
Stanford's next competition will be the PCCSC Women's Team and Fleet Race Championship on April 4-6, hosted by the University of Hawai'i.