May 26, 2006
Charleston, SC - Stanford's Women's Sailing team made program historywith their first top-4 finish in Collegiate Nationals history. The36-race event was sailed in Charleston Harbor over three days.Reliable seabreezes and challenging current made this one of the most exciting regattas to watch. The racing was close, with the top teams swapping positions on the top of the leaderboard with each race.
The Cardinal were 2nd going into today, and over the course of eight races, lost that position to finish 4th, one point behind 3rd place St. Mary's of Maryland. "It paid to be a veteran today," explained Coach Kehoe, "we sailed a freshman and a sophomore against teams of junior and seniors."
Sailing A-Division, Evan Brown started the day with Carrie Denning and then swapped in Jo Madsen as the breeze built. The A-team had a great day, with three top-4 finishes and one deep (17) in the fleet.
The highlight for the Stanford women was continuing the tradition- Taylor Grimes and her two crews Becca Levin and Mariana Beardsworth won the B-Division. They follow in the footsteps of Liz Rountree /Julie Pitts '05 and Caroline Young with Jo Madsen, Becca Levin, Alexa Binns who won B-Division in '04 and '05 respectively.
Kehoe is enthusiastic that almost the entire squad returns next year."I'm so proud of our women for holding it together on a day that was tough sailing, tough mentally and tough emotionally. "
The Stanford Sailors have a long week to go in Charleston, with two more Championships to be sailed. The Team Race team will begin their Nationals on Sunday and sail through Tuesday. Following that, the Fleet Race Nationals will be Wednesday through Friday, June 2.
Intercollegiate Sailing Association Women's Nationals
| A | B | TOT | |
| 1. Charleston | 98 | 109 | 207 |
| 2. Georgetown | 144 | 105 | 249 |
| 3. St. Mary's | 150 | 108 | 258 |
| 4. Stanford | 162 | 97 | 259 |
| 5. Dartmouth | 162 | 118 | 280 |
| 6. Navy | 144 | 143 | 287 |
| 7. Boston College | 139 | 161 | 300 |
| 8. Harvard | 135 | 169 | 304 |
| 9. South Florida | 168 | 145 | 313 |
| 10. Hobart/Wm Smith | 121 | 206 | 327 |
| 11. Tufts | 146 | 195 | 341 |
| 12. Hawaii | 186 | 167 | 353 |
| 13. Yale | 219 | 148 | 367 |
| 14. Old Dominion | 194 | 201 | 395 |
| 15. Texas | 179 | 238 | 417 |
| 16. Wisconsin | 265 | 224 | 489 |
| 17. Michigan | 210 | 291 | 501 |
| 18. Washington | 259 | 256 | 515 |