Tuesday, May 6, 2003

SAILING SENDING THREE TEAMS TO SPRING NATIONALS

MEDFORD – The Tufts University Sailing team will again be a major presence at the Spring Nationals next month. Head Coach Ken Legler's program recently qualified its teams for each of the Women's, Team Racing and Dinghy National Championships. The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association 2003 Spring Championships, hosted by the University of Michigan and the Midwest College Sailing Association, will be held June 2-10 at three racing sites in the Detroit area.

Tufts earned trips to nationals with their performances at the New England Championships. The Team Racing squad hosted and won the New England Championship on April 26-27. The Dinghy team then won its New England Championship on the Charles River in Boston May 3-4. The Women's team placed fourth at its regional regatta hosted by Brown University on April 19-20.

The Jumbo Team Racers beat Harvard for their title. Tufts escaped early in the final race with a breakaway 1-2 while co-captains Pete Levesque (Falmouth, ME/Tabor) and Caroline Hall (Tiverton, RI/Moses Brown) held back the charging Harvard team. Senior J.R. Maxwell Stonington, CT/The Williams School) with classmate crew Deane Madsen (Brookline, MA/Roxbury Latin) are the #2 Tufts boat. Freshman Dave Siegal (Dartmouth, MA/Tabor Academy) with junior crew Katie Shuman (Seattle, WA/Garfield) raced the third Tufts boat at New England's and will also do so at Nationals. Junior AJ Crane (Warwick, BERMUDA/St. George's) and classmate Kristen Tysell (Richmond, CA/Cate School) contributed two races to the New England title.

Tufts again topped Harvard for the New England Dinghy title. They were second in both divisions for a regatta total of 164 points, six under the Crimson. Levesque and Hall were one point behind the Dartmouth A Division winners, while Maxwell and Madsen were second in a B Division competition dominated by Harvard.

The Women's team placed fourth behind Brown, Harvard and Yale. Crane and Tysell, the #1 pair, placed second in the A Division behind Harvard. Senior skipper Clare Dooley (Edgartown, MA/The Hotchkiss School) and Hall raced in the B Division and placed sixth. Senior Taylor Fallon (Whitfield, CT/The Williams School) will crew for Dooley at Nationals. Crane was named an All-New England skipper, while Tysell and Fallon were picked as All-New England crews.

All of the above mentioned sailors will be joined at Nationals by alternates Rob Pascal (East Haddum, CT/The Williams School), freshman Bryan Prior (Huntington, NY/Huntington) and sophomore Lindsay Shanholt  (East Hampton, NY/The Hotchkiss School).

Tufts is a five-time Dinghy national champion, a seven-time Women's champion and a five-time Team Racing champion.

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