Kirkland Helps St. Mary’s Win College Nationals
Bermudian sailor Jesse Kirkland helped his school to win a National Sailing Title. Over the three-day Memorial Day holiday weekend, the top 14 schools in the USA – as determined by their performance in one of the seven Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association conferences to which they belong – were in America’s Heartland racing for the 2010 ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship title on Lake Mendota.
And for one team, St. Mary’s College (St. Mary’s, Md.), it was a reversal of fortune from 2009 when the Seahawks lost this championship on a tie breaker, to come back and win this year’s contest on a tie break with the same team – Boston College. Proving that they are a powerhouse in this format of sailing, the win marks the fifth time the Seahawks have clinched this unique championship which pits each college’s three-boat team against another’s in a round-robin series of matches.
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Jesse Kirkland with crew Madeline Jackson. Photo credit GTSphotos.com
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At the conclusion of the Gold Round, also known as the “elite eight,” the “final four“ race to determine the champion. The goal of the championship is to have the top four teams meet each other three times, which also allows for a tie break. This year’s event was a light air contest, and credit goes to the Race Committee for giving the sailors every opportunity to get races completed especially on the penultimate day of the championship (Sunday, May 30) when competitors were out sailing at 9:00 a.m. and finishing up about 8:00 p.m.
“When teams make the ‘elite eight,’ each team is capable of beating everyone else,” explained Adam Werblow, Head Varsity Sailing Coach at St. Mary’s. “There is no easy win. Every team has worked damn hard to get here and they’ve accomplished a lot by the time they get to the championship round. That’s what makes it fun. There are simply no gimmes once you get into the elite eight.”
“What helped us is that we have a team who has worked together for a very long time,” said Werblow. “This team has been perfecting the skills of team racing and Bill Ward (Varsity Sailing Coach) has been exceptional on coaching the details of how to team race well. The level of consistency that they’ve had is remarkable. With the support of our alumni we set the bar really high and we had a goal at the beginning of the year to win this championship. “
On the water for St. Mary’s were senior skipper Ted Hale (Annapolis, Md.) with junior crew Francis Kupersmith (Alexandria, Va.), junior skipper Michael Menninger (Newport Harbor, Calif.) with senior crew Kelly Wilbur (Ipswich, Mass.) and senior skipper Jesse Kirkland (Warwick, Bermuda) with junior crew Madeline Jackson (Bainbridge Island, Wash.). For the last race of the championship, senior skipper Mike Kuschner (San Francisco, Calif.) sailed with Kupersmith, and Hale sailed with Wilbur.
“We have such a proud tradition and we are thrilled to be able to represent the school and one another,” summed up Werblow. “There are 30 kids on our team and 2,000 in the school. The 10 kids sailing here are representing the rest and feel really proud to regain the national title we covet so much.”
Final standings for the final four: St. Mary’s 12-5, Boston College 12-5, Georgetown 10-7 and Charleston 9-8.
