Coach's Corner

Mitchell College ended the fall season with the Rhode Island State Championship this weekend. We sailed on both Saturday and Sunday against some of the top teams in New England, and this was the most difficult competition we faced all year.

Sailing in A-Division was Brendan Griffiths with crews Alexandra Bollella and Jared LaFosse-Baker. Sailing in B-Division was Alex Hering with crews Deborah Lee and Chelsea Abbenante. There were 20 teams registered for the event and Mitchell College finished 18th. Congratulations to fellow Thames River sailing teams US Coast Guard for winning the event, Conn College for placing sixth, and UCONN for finishing a few points ahead at 17th.

Wind conditions on Saturday were heavy in the morning and decreased as the day went on. During the first set, Brendan and Alex B. struggled in the heavy winds and capsized during the second race. Brendan sailed with Jared for the next four races and sailed consistently, unfortunately in the back of the fleet. However, during one race Brendan approached the windward mark near the top of the fleet, definitely in a top 10 position, but was approaching on port and had to take about 10 sterns before rounding the mark. For the final set, Brendan and Alexandra sailed together with similar results. Alex sailed with Deborah all day and had some inconsistencies, but finished the day with a nice set of a (16,10).

On Sunday, the conditions were flip-flopped. With winds light to start the day, they quickly increased. Brendan started the day with Alexandra, but as the wind got near 20 mph he finished the day with Jared. Brendan capsized again and continued struggling to find his groove against the tough competition. Alex sailed with Chelsea all day on Sunday and had a great rhythm. His finishes (16,15,14,13,17,16) exemplified the consistency we were looking for during the regatta.

Congratulations to Brendan for finishing the regatta in 18th place and Alex for finishing in 16th place.

The regatta reflected our season. We had many moments of greatness, but the results were truly not reflective of the successes and of our growth. The team can compete at the level our schedule dictates. We are not too far away from being consistently in the middle of the fleet at these high level regattas. Last year, they would have been waiting for us to finish the race before starting the next one. This year, we were having our individual struggles at times, but also beating teams on a consistent basis. 

I could not be prouder of the team and how they handled themselves on the water (and on the land) against the tough competition. They represented their college and families in the most respectful manner. I will miss the great times we have had traveling and competing together over these next four months until the spring season starts again.

Mitchell College Sailing continues to grow, improve, and gain momentum in this very tough New England Sailing Conference. Now that we have seen what we can do, we have made it a team goal to be more consistent and fine tune our skills. Goal number one is to finish in the top 10 of the Southern Series this spring. We sailed a few this fall and finished 16th out of 21 teams. Our goal for one year from now is to qualify for the Atlantic Coast Tournament, which would make us one of the top 20 teams in New England. With the continued hard work from the team, the awesome support from the Mitchell Athletic Department, and the amazing parent support, we will achieve these goals.

Thank you all for a great season.

For more detailed information on this weekend's regatta please visit the site below.

http://scores.collegesailing.info/f11/rhode-island-state-championships/