Sailing World 2006-2007 Preseason Prognostications
MAISAThe pecking order in MAISA is due for a big shake-up this season with a few up-and-coming programs looking to knock off some of the perennial favorites. Reigning Team Race National Champions and Fowle Trophy winners Georgetown University will be hurt the most by graduation. Four-time All-American and College Sailor of the Year Andrew Campbell has graduated, leaving the Hoyas some big shoes to fill. Junior All-American Chris Behm will take over A division, and B division will be a toss up with Zack Kavanaugh and JB Turney the early favorites to start. On the women’s team the Hoyas graduated All-American Derby Anderson as well as skipper/crew Jackie Schmitz. Blaire Herron will continue to skipper in A division and will look to either sophomore Emily Babbitt or freshman Christine Burke to take over in B. In addition to Burke the Hoyas welcome a few more good recruits. Skipper Marco Teixidor along with crews Alex Taylor and Caila Johnson will hopefully make a big impact in their first year.The big news out of St. Mary’s this summer was the hiring of Assistant Coach Bill Ward from Georgetown. Bill will almost certainly help the Seahawks regain their usual spot among the top five in the rankings. St. Mary’s has a wealth of talent starting with All-American Justin Law in A division. John Loe and John Howell will continue to sail in B and new freshman skippers Ted Hale and Miles Gutenkurst should help make St. Mary’s one of the deepest teams in the nation. On the women’s side All-American Adrienne Patterson returns for her junior year and will have a new B skipper in freshman Sara Watters. Hobart/Wm. Smith will be an early favorite to claim another ICSA title this year. Coach Scott Ikle returns his top three coed skippers Trevor Moore, Brian Clancy and Jay Mills. Rob Crane, Austin Kana, and John Sampson will try to break into the top three. On the women’s side the team will be led by skippers Kate Brush and Morgan Commette. Hobart graduated super crews Augusta Nadler and Molly Lawson but Mandi Markee returns for her senior year. Washington College looks strong again this year led by skippers Alex Hood and Parker Mitchell. Coach Geoff Becker will have a tremendous freshman class to work with in skippers Conner Blouin and Patrick Clancy. Washington College is on the verge of making nationals each year and this may be the year they finally break through.Last year’s surprise team, New York Maritime, should continue its resurgence. Head Coach Danny Pletsch will rely on sophomores Dan Hesse and Todd Hawkins to lead the team back to nationals.The Naval Academy coed team seeks rebound from an off year with some great recruits as well as some talented returning sailors. Senior Gary Grimes will anchor the coed team that should be aided by the additions of freshmen Brian Rigby and Martin Sterling. The Navy women will be an early favorite to win it all. All-Americans Katie Whitman and Charlotte Hill will be tough to be beat come spring. Kings Point lost A division starter Graham Mergenthaler, but he will be replaced by the Andrew Berecovici who had a great fall season before going to sea for the spring semester. Chris Alexander and Chris Branning will sail both single and doublehanded divisions before going abroad in the spring. The real sleeper in MAISA this year is University of Pennsylvania. Anchored by Pat Curran and Bryce LaForte, the Penn squad has sailed well at big regattas the last two seasons. Now, with the arrival of Naval Academy transfer Garth Fasano, the Penn team will be a favorite to make it to the National Championships. Old Dominion saw A division skipper Charles Higgins graduate and will rely on David Tunnifcliffe, Cara Disanti, Bobby Noonan, and Mike Collins to anchor the team in the fall. Help is on the way though as Coach Mitch Brindley has put together a great recruiting class led by skipper and U.S. Sailing Team member Kyle Rogachenko. Joining Kyle are Katrina Williams (Bermuda), John and Kevin Shockey from Ohio, Wilson Stout and Robert Kushner of Annapolis, and Alan Alkins of Trinidad. Other teams that should do well in MAISA are Christopher Newport, Fordham, Cornell, Columbia and Ocean County.MCSAThe big three, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan will continue to be the teams to beat in the Midwest. The names of talented recruits are not known at this time, but most of the recruiting for these Midwestern club teams of is done internally after the school year starts.Minnesota returns Mark Dunsworth, Jessica Haverstock and David Elsmo. Only Jenny Wilson graduated.Wisconsin has the most top skippers returning with Scott Eisenhardt, Matt Schmidt, Rob Pickens, Patti Schmit, Liz Prange and Anna Bargren.Michigan graduated Dave Ellis but retains Chritina and Maria Falcone and Scott Pfeffer.Northwestern graduated Jack McCallum and Chris Stahl but returns Christine Hechmen and Jim Costakis. Notre Dame graduated Tim Ray but returns John Dailey and Tricia Hughes. Perdue graduated Carlos Abisambra but returns Eric Young.Rob Linden and Steve Griffeth return to Michigan State. Jordan Gourash returns to Ohio State University but Steve Bauer graduated. Jake Bowman and Jamie Carroll return to St. Thomas but Danielle Lindemen graduated.NEISAThe clear winner in the class of 2010 recruiting game is Yale. The Bulldogs landed Youth Singlehanded, Dinghy and Team Racing Champion Thomas Barrows, 420 ace John Kempton, and Radial star Sarah Lihan. Though Molly Carapiet graduated, Yale can still rely on Zach Brown, Matt Barry and Phil Stemler.Last year’s recruiting winner, Boston College, will be starting sophomore sensations Adam Roberts, Brian Kamilar, and Parker Dwyer. The Eagles graduated Maura Winston, but still have plenty of depth to challenge other NEISA teams at all levels. BC’s best recruit is Avery Brooks from Hotchkiss School.Harvard landed Drew Robb (Hawaii) to join Clay Johnson and Kyle Kovacs in Lasers. The Crimson graduated a couple of champions, however, with Vince Porter and Sloan Devlin moving on. They still have a few great crews but lack the depth of some other teams.Todd Whitehead and Emily East graduated from Dartmouth but Becca Dellenbaugh heads their recruiting class and will make an immediate impact. Andrew Loe returns to join Eric Storck, Ben Sampson and Adele Wilhelm.Charlie Enright returns as a legitimate A skipper for Brown with many good skippers vying for B including Isaac Stoner, Matt Amarante, Hugh Cullman, and Andrew Perry. They return many good crews but graduated a two-time All-American crew, Arlene Chung. Honorable Mention Rip Hale also graduated, but Brown got their share of top recruits in Jeff Knowles, Will Brown, and Charlotte Lipschitz. Sarah Braun will lead their women’s team.Tufts graduated 13 A and B skippers– more than almost any other team in the country. Senior Zander Kirland has one semester remaining in the spring. Michael Easton, Baker Potts, Peter Fallon, and Kaity Storck return with a slew of excellent crew. Top recruits are Tomas Hornos and Nathan Rosenberg.MIT graduated Emma Bassein and loses Cha-ling O’Connell, who is taking a year off, and coach Mike Kalin, who is returning home to Canada for a Laser campaign. He is replaced by two excellent coaches from Roger Williams, Matt Lindblad and Matt Cohen, who join Sailing Master Fran Charles. Returning skippers are Jake Field, Jake Muhlman, and Brooks Reed; top recruit is Josh Leighton (San Francisco).Roger Williams lost its coaches and graduated Drew Hamilton, but will benefit from the return of Dave Hyer, Andy Goetting, and Matt Duggan.Rhode Island should improve through seniority, as only Jeff Kittredge graduated. Veterans Matt Kastan and Craig Thompson will be joined by Ben Quatramoni from Portsmouth Abbey.Connecticut College graduated Emily Whipple but returns Charlie Modica and Dave Meleny.Coast Guard returns their front line of Rob Gorman, Noel Shriner and Chris Greenough.Vermont graduated Cleve Ruekert and Laura Eichorn but returns Matt Clark, Tyler Beader, and Tal Ingram. The Catamounts had another pretty good recruiting year, landing Clinton Hayes, Alex Bunt, and Coco Solsvig.Boston University could be a sleeper. They did well in local regattas last year with Ben Spiller and Bobby Martin, both of whom return.Bowdoin graduated Frank Pizzo but returns Mark Dineen.The big news at Salve Regina in Newport, R.I. it the arrival of 20 new 420s. Jamie Randell and Michael Komar return to enjoy some big home regattas for a change.NWICSAThe NWICSA will suffer the loss of several key conference and team leaders to graduation. The “retirement” of Conference Graduate Leader Annie Johnson will also create some challenges. Still, the growth in size, strength, and depth of this conference has been noticeable and should provide the “new blood” with tools to continue building the region’s college sailing.Although University of Washington graduated a major portion of its team, including top skipper Brendan Fahey and team captain Alex Jones (ICSA 2006 Sportsmanship Winner), the Huskies will stay strong in the NWICSA. The team will look to Junior Paul Stewart as team captain and “A” skipper. Senior Jon Kelch will fill “B” division along with returning crews, Erin Bell and Kate Selting. The women’s team will continue to improve with the return of skippers Hayley Siegenthaler and Michelle Stitzer, and crew Molly Acheson. Incoming freshman talent should help replace crews Ellie Wilson and Emily Schneider, both of whom are studying abroad this fall.University of Oregon is continuing to build its young roster. The addition of two new FJ’s brings their fleet to nine, which will help make regular practices with Oregon State more competitive. Team captain Taylor Chittick plans to build the team with returning varsity crew Jessica Andrews, who spent last year abroad. Varsity A skipper Rob Dubuc returns for his final year and will be working with a new crew, since his previous partner, Beth Otto, one of last year’s NWICSA All-Northwest crews, will be graduating later this fall. This ambitious team will continue to travel the California district, and will make its second trip to the East Coast.Portland State will take a hit this year with the graduations of two key varsity players: three-time All-Northwest Skipper Jeff Causey and All-Northwest Crew Caitlin Coleman-Hulbert. Alex Bettencourt, who is returning after an impressive start with the team as a freshman last year, will assume Causey’s roles as team captain and A-Division skipper. Also returning are Kevin Stravers, James Acton, Daniel Martinez, and head coach Bill Symes.Washington State University has virtually the same team as last year, led by skippers Dave Wheeler, Nick Farley, and Scott Wilson, and crews Charissa Benson, Danielle Baker, and Lisa Clifford. New members joining this fall include Angela Congdon and Chase Jablonski. PCCSCThis conference should again field some of the nation’s top teams. Stanford, USC, and UC Irvine will likely battle near the top. Cal Maritime, UCSD and UCLA’s programs are maturing, while UC Santa Barbara and University of Hawaii remain relatively unknown. This year, the PCCSC welcomes new teams at Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles) and, pending recognition by the university, California State University Channel Islands.Virtually all of USC’s starting sailors return this year with eligibility, including Greg Helias ’08, Melanie Roberts ’07, Vanessa DeCollibus ’07, and Alex Bernal ’08. Additionally, several team members will be red shirting for the Trojans in the fall. 2005 College Sailor of the Year Mikee Anderson-Mitterling will return after the 470 Worlds to sail as a collegian, but remains deeply involved in his Olympic Campaign in the 470, for which pre-trials take place in Long Beach in October. Several strong new recruits should strengthen the team including 2006 US Youth Champion Chris Vetter. Furthermore, the Trojans anticipate a new fleet of FJs come spring.Although Stanford graduated women’s skipper Liz Rountree and crew Anna Vu, its women’s team should still be a powerhouse. Returning Caroline Young ’07, Evan Brown ’08, and Taylor Grimes ’09, plus incoming freshmen Leigh Hammel and Megan Grove, should make the Stanford women the team to beat. Their coed squad remains solid, with Brian Haines ’07, Emery Wager ’07, Craig Page ’08, and TJ Tullo ’09 returning. And freshman Peter Stemler should strengthen the team’s future. A very strong group of crews return, including Becca Levin ’07, Kelly McKenna’09, Carrie Denning ’08, Mariana Beardsworth ’08, and Sarah Schoknecht ’08.UC Irvine graduated no one and, except for a couple of red shirts, should continue to have a very strong squad led by Frank Tybor ’07, Whitney Loufek ’07, Will Pochereva ’07, and Chris Trezzo ’07.UC Santa Barbara suffered some major losses to graduation: Hunter Williams, Lauren Hobson, Kate Conway, and Courtney Carrecia. UCSB has a strong group of incoming freshmen, however, in Cameron Biehl, John Heineken, Ben Frush, Jack Porter and Jessica Barhydte. This team is virtually all new, but very promising nonetheless.University of Hawaii loses five veteran team members to graduation/eligibility: Bryan Lake, Joey Pasquali, Eric Oppen, Scott DeCurtis and Meredith Adams. However, returning sailors Mike Scott, Mark Spector, Andrew Meade, Ryan Wild, Will Whitman, Nick Cervantes, Shandy Buckley, and top crews Beck Marbardy, Pamela Magasinn, Crystal Bronte, and Cassie Harris should keep the team in the mix. UH welcomes incoming freshmen Ersin Buckley (New Zealand) and Mallory McCollum (San Francisco). Tinja Anderson-Mitterling is abroad for at least the fall semester.Returning starters Paige Johnston ’09, Alli Jolls ’09, Nathan Prather ’08 and Jessie Lee ’09 will provide the seniority which Cal Maritime has lacked as of late. Incoming freshmen Cole Davis, Andrew Freeman, and George Santori should provide increased depth to the dinghy roster, while the Cal Maritime Offshore Team will defend its Shields Trophy and several other major events nationwide. Seniors Piet van Os and Bud McKay will be returning fresh from the Morning Light tryouts, and Brian Vanderspek (San Diego) signs on as a freshman. UC San Diego loses two-term captains John Frank and Heather Martinelli. However, varsity skipper Ryan Lorence, who was forced to sit out most of last spring with a broken back, has recovered and will be returning to claim his spot on the team. Juniors Nick Ward and Ben Amen are looking forward to another strong year, while skippers Sean Anderson and Jeff Simon add a level of depth that the UCSD team has never before had. The women’s team, led by Chelsea Valdiconza and Ashley Rose, will be UCSD’s strongest women’s team yet. UCLA loses varsity A crew and team-voted MVP Sarah Lewis to graduation. The rest of the varsity team returns for the fall, however, including skippers Matt Sirignano and Sam Wheeler. Sophomore Kelly Kephart and senior Lyzz Schwegler will head up the women’s team. The team recently acquired five boats and a trailer from the defunct Pepperdine University Sailing Team, and will be hosting the fledgling LMU and CSUN teams at their facility. Garrett Woodworth (UH ’99) will return as coach.UC Santa Cruz graduates several key team members including captain Sarah McNaboe. The team is looking to put last year’s new boat to work this season.Sailing will be California State University Channel Islands’ very first recognized sport! With a very strong response from the student body (3,000 students have enrolled in the new school), the sailing team will form in the fall around ten sailors, and the sailing club starts out with about fifty members. SAISACollege of Charleston surprised everyone at the Spring National Championships winning Women’s and Dinghy Nationals. This year the Cougars will look to repeat in both. Alana O’Reilly, 2006 Quantum Female Sailor of the Year, and All-American crew Susie Lintern have graduated, but the women’s team will be in good hands with Andrea Savage skippering in A and Megan Riddle and Mandy Sackett skippering in B. On the coed team, All-American Russ O’Reilly will lead a deep team that also includes skippers Brendan Healy and Chris Lash. Charleston has another great recruiting class coming in skippers Jackson Benvenuti, Will Weisman, and Nick Martin. Dani Neri, Britney Haas, and Julia Southworth will be the top crews for the coed and women’s teams. University of South Florida is coming off a very strong year in which the team qualified for 5 out of 6 National Championships, with top 9 finishes in all the events, missing only the Men’s Singlehanded event. Of the ten starting sailors at the spring events in Charleston, however, a whopping seven have graduated, including All-Americans Kevin Reali and Ashley Reynolds. Only Tim King, Liz Foy, and All-American Honorable Mention Jesse Combs return to the coed team. Recruits Mitch Hall (Cressy Champion), Brandon Freeland (transfer from Coast Guard), Chris Keimig, and Simon Sanders–along with senior Phil Tanner– will be looking to accept the challenges of intersectional competitions.For the USF women’s team, all four starters from Nationals graduated, and freshman Paige Railey, who placed second at singlehanded championships, is taking an extended leave of absence while training for the 2008 Olympics. Vying for starting jobs are several freshman and sophomores, including Kristin Britt, Kim Witkowski, Ashley Saylor, and Lauren Whitehurst. They will be aided by the strong crewing efforts of Kirsten Murray and Alyson Dagly, as well as a number of new crew recruits.Eckerd College will rely on a mixture of experience and youth in 2006, as graduation took coed sailors Peter Stanton, DJ Driscoll, Tina Irwin, and Allison Cribbs. In addition, the Tritons will have to deal with the loss of women’s duo Lindsey Nahmias and Leo Calzadilla, whe led the team’s A Division for the past three years. Leading the way for the coed team will be seniors Zach Mason and Justin Van Deinse, but close on their heels are junior Sam Mazzeo and sophomore Andrew Keane. All four drivers will be working with sophomore crews who saw solid action last season. Eckerd will also welcome back Kellen Bernard, who will use his final semester of eligibility in the fall season.Eckerd’s women’s team will be under a lot of pressure to mature quickly and find their way to the front of the pack. Returning to the Tritons is last year’s B division combo of Katja Riise and Sarah Swan. The pair will move onto A division and work with sophomore’s drivers Carly Cappelluzzo and Caitlin Aguero or incoming freshmen Cara Vavolotis to anchor B division. Coach Jim Terkelson has a very good freshmen class that includes Francisco Medina, Travis LeConey, Cara Vavolotis, and crew Nicole Butchart.Other teams to watch in SAISA include University of Miami, Vanderbilt, and Rollins College. SEISAGiven the incredible challenges that the hurricanes left for this district, things are going quite well. Southern Yacht Club continues to be hugely supportive of college sailing and teams not affected by the storms are helping those that were. The rise of the University of South Alabama team should continue despite the graduation of Karl Kleinschrodt. Texas A&M Galveston’s program seems to have solidified as a national strength under the guidance of coach Gerard Coleman. University of Texas’ current team is maturing, and Kansas University’s program is growing as well. Tulane and others in New Orleans area will hopefully enjoy some new equipment with support from Vanguard’s generous arrangements for hurricane victims. University of South Alabama graduates Team Captain and A division skipper Karl Kleinschrodt, but the rest of the USA team will be returning. Paul Kleinschrodt will be skippering A division and DC Furey and Ashley Hall will be skippering B. Crews Kate Brobston, Ashleigh Turner, Meghan Alesce, and Shea Nicosea will all be returning as well. With Karl Kleinschrodt stepping in as part-time coach, USA will remain strong as long as hurricanes stay away.Though Texas A&M Galveston graduated three seniors, many up-and-coming underclassmen will join the 25 remaining team members. Returning are 2004-05 Sloop Champions Scott Stanton and Brad Winslet. Hugh Haggerty is red shirting for the fall. Led by coach Gerard Coleman, this team should remain a strong national force.University of Texas had a strong finish last season, winning SEISA Women’s Champs and finishing second in SEISA Dinghy’s. The Longhorns also received votes in the most recent Women’s National Rankings for the first time in school history. The team only graduated one senior, former Texas Sailing president James Morley, and begins the season with its largest budget ever.Tulane is recovering from a total loss of sailing facilities and equipment in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The team–which welcomes several freshmen and graduated only one senior, Pat Hitchins– will be practicing and hosting events out of Southern Yacht Club in a new fleet of 420s.University of Kansas has a new facility with a learn-to-sail area for new members, which should help membership immensely. The team will be hosting the SEISA Singlehanded Champs. Returning are Tim Fitzgerald ’07, Alli Jones ’09, and Evan Charles ’07. Notable incoming freshmen include Ryan Sadeghi and Brooks Hammond.
