Charleston Finishes Fifth At Team Race Nationals

Saturday, May 25

Newport, R.I.

ALL DAY

College of Charleston

LaserPerformance Team Race National Championships

5/27/2019 11:16:00 PM | Sailing

NEWPORT, R.I. --- The College of Charleston sailing team finished fifth at the LaserPerformance Team Race National Championships on Monday after a few dramatic and unfortunate events prevented the Cougars from qualifying for the final four.

"We were tied for fourth place with Dartmouth when we were given a black flag in our race against Boston College," Director of Sailing Kevin Jewett said. "It was a close tacking situation where we were on starboard (with rights) coming out of a tack and the BC boat was trying to trap us. We were called for not avoiding a collision and because there was damage to the boat, we were given a .5 or half race penalty. This penalty is what broke the tie with Dartmouth and landed us in fifth place for the Team Race National Championship."

Key wins over Navy, Yale and Boston College highlighted an 11-4 performance in Saturday's 16-team round robin first round but a two-win penalty for a missing jersey in one of the races would drop the Cougars from fourth to seventh entering the round of eight.

Charleston battled its way to five wins in seven races on Sunday in the final eight. The Cougars cruised to victories against Dartmouth, Stanford, Navy, Boston College and Hobart and William Smith to finish the round tied with Dartmouth for fourth. A black flag in the Cougars' win over Boston College would result in a .5 race penalty after a lengthy hearing to drop CofC into fifth and out of the final four.

Augie Dale, Jack Brown, Allie Toppa and Steven Leuck skippered for the Cougars with crews Katie Lounsbury, Annabel Carrington, Oliver Parsons, Carter Cameron and Payton Alexander. The Cougars finished the three-day championship event with a 13.5-8 record including a 5-2 mark in round two.

The Cougars will set sail in the two-day Gil Coed Western Semifinal on Tuesday and Wednesday competing for a spot in the national finals on Thursday and Friday. Dale and Katie Lounsbury and heavy wind crew Carter Cameron will represent the Maroon and White in A-Division with Jack Brown or Allie Toppa skippering alongside crews Annabelle Carrington and Claire Perry, and heavy air specialists Oliver Parsons and Hunter Skinner sailing in B-Division.

A live stream covering the last day of the semifinals and both days of the finals, along with up-to-the-minute race scores and additional event information, is available via the event website at https://2019nationals.collegesailing.org/.