Tulane Sailing Women’s Team Wins SMC Fleet Race; COED Team Finishes 12th at Graham Hall Team Race

Saturday, March 19

Annapolis, MD

Tulane University

Graham Hall Team Race

Tulane Sailing Women’s Team Wins SMC Fleet Race; COED Team Finishes 12th at Graham Hall Team Race

Mar 20, 2022 | Sailing

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University sailing women's team notched a first-place finish in its first fleet race regatta of the year while the COED crew landed 12^th out 16 teams in a team race hosted by Navy. The Green Wave women's team picked up the win among 18 other teams at the SMC Women's Fleet Race in St. Mary's, Maryland. The Wave COED team faced tough competition and conditions as it finished competition at the Graham Hall team Race.

"A much stronger day for the wave today," head coach Charles Higgins said. "We came out firing with a win over Navy in big breeze. Unfortunately, due to the conditions the regatta had to be re-seeded at the halfway point and we just missed out on the top group."

On the second day of competition at the Graham Hall Team Race, the Green Wave COED team improved on the water posting a 5-2 record on the day. Tulane earned wins over College of Charleston, Hobart & William, Old Dominion, Kings Point and NY Maritime to pick up eight points. Yale finished on top of the regatta with a 9-1 record on the second day of racing.

"We continued to sail strongly throughout the day and won all of our races on the water," Higgins said. "Unfortunately, we were disqualified from one of our races at the end of the day, and that kept us from moving up the leaderboard. But to go from 2-5 yesterday and finish out with a winning record on the weekend is a very solid turnaround for us. Going into next weekend we'll need to work on some of our weak points to help ensure we continue to improve going forward."

The Tulane women's team put together an impressive effort on the second day on the waters of the St. Mary's River in Maryland to earn a first-place finish. The Green Wave used the strong performance to move in front of Stanford which held first place at the end of day one. Finishing with 142 points on the weekend the Wave edged out the Cardinal by four points to finish with the win. The team in the A Division for Tulane finished the day with 92 points while the B Division crew posted 50 points.

"To start Saturday with four first-place finishes in the A Division shows how focused and talented skipper Ciara Rodriguez-Horan and crew Lucy Spearman are," assistant coach Jocelyn Rovniak said. "The impressive start to Sunday came from the B Division duo Caroline Benson and crew Lydia Brown. The two put together a string of four first-place finishes in a row to really close the gap between the Green Wave and Stanford. A Division skipper Ciara Rodriguez-Horan was truly locked into her races with crews Lucy Spearman and Abi Borggaard. It was a stellar performance by both divisions, who by the end were able to take first not only in the event but in their divisions as well. This weekend truly showed the talent our women's team has to put the pieces together that it takes to put themselves on top. I could not be more proud of the way we never backed down. It was really a grind till the end in both divisions to get the win."

"I'm incredibly proud of how strong our women were this weekend," said Higgins. "They had an absolute battle all day with Stanford, and to come away with the win is huge for the whole team."

Following the action this weekend, the Green Wave COED and women's teams will be back in the northeast March 26-27. The Wave COED squad will compete in the Szambecki Team Race hosted by Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia, and the Tulane women's crew go back to St. Mary's Maryland for the SMC Women's Team Race at Saint Mary's College.

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