ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Eight more races went final as the 14th-ranked Eckerd College women's sailing program continued to forge ahead at the ICSA/Sperry Top-Sider Championship Finals on Thursday afternoon.
After a total of six races were completed following the conclusion of semifinals on Wednesday, the second day of finals competition kept heating up on the water at the Magnuson Hotel Marina Cove.
Dartmouth College (149 points) continues to lead all teams followed by Boston College (188) and St. Mary's (188) tied next to round out the top three.
The Tritons maintained their current standing of 13th, but after showing they could hang around in the top half of the 18-team field in stretches today, optimism for a strong finish is the focus for EC Head Coach
Kevin Reali.
“Conditions were about the same today with a little bit of a later start,” said Reali. “I just want to keep moving up on the last day. Today, we became fatigued down the stretch and ultimately struggled to sail to our game plan.”
When the fourth race of the day (and 10th of the regatta) went final, resulting in a pair of sixth-place efforts in 4A and 4B, the Tritons climbed the leaderboard into the top half of the field with a temporary hold on ninth.
“A” division with junior
Solvig Sayre and senior
Emily Mitchell and “B” division with sophomore
Melany Johnson and freshman
Jessica Resnick each finished second in separate races today.
Johnson and Resnick opened the first race of the afternoon runner-up behind only Roger Williams and Sayre and Mitchell trailed close behind Dartmouth in race No. 11.
After Johnson and Resnick opened the day in second, they followed with fifth and sixth-place performances, respectively.
The Tritons are clustered with a number of schools hunting in the middle of the pack. With 287 points, Eckerd trails Navy by just a four-point margin and less than 40 points separates the Tritons from getting back into the top half of the field where Brown is currently holding ninth.
Four races are scheduled for Friday with competition again slated to begin over the lunch hour around noon.
