Aug. 21, 2003

Stanford, Calif. - Starting his third year at the helm of the Stanford Sailing team, Head Coach Jay Kehoe is pleased with his incoming team, "With the top men's and women's recruits packing for the Farm, and our returning team, we have the recipe for a national championship this year," he explained, "with more success in the future." With the completion of the new Stanford Boathouse in Redwood City and the addition of a new fleet of flying juniors for the team, Kehoe and returning Assistant Coach Brent Harrill have a lot on their plates.

The recently released Sailing World pre-season rankings put the Cardinal's Coed team at 5th in the country, up from their 8th place ranking after finishing 8th overall at last June's Nationals in Detroit. The squad lost A-Division Skipper and All-American Ted Conrads to graduation, but retains All-American Dave Phillips '04 and Stanford Freshman Block S Award winner Brian Haines '06. The duo traded off the B-Division races at last spring's nationals to earn 3rd in B-Division. Also returning this year, Pete Deming '05, from a year off. Adding depth to this year's squad will be new freshman 2003 US Youth Champion Emery Wager, who recently finished 8th at the Laser Radial World Champs in Lake Garda, Italy. "Wager will be able to challenge our present team from the beginning," said Kehoe.

After a tough Spring regaining momentum after the team's starters went abroad for Winter Quarter, the Stanford Women's team is back on track for a championship year. Seniors Jen Porter, Ashley Frush and Liz Shearer will be vying for top billing on the Women's squad with sophomore Liz Rountree. Adding fuel to the fire will be new recruit Caroline Young, fresh off her 8th place finish at the Youth World Championships in Madeira, Spain. Recognizing this, the Sailing World rankings took the Cardinal Women from an unranked position to 10th in the pre-season rankings.

The icing on the cake for this year's team is the return of the team's best crews. Anna Vu '06, Taylor Clark '04, Jenais Zarlin '04, Margia Corner '04, Ali Salatti '05, Jessie Duncan '05 and Lucy Horton '05 will all be returning. The squad will be augmented by newcomers, including Julie Pitts '05 and recruit Joanna Madsen '07.

The season begins September 6-7 when Dave Phillips and crew Anna Vu return to the season opener -Yale's Harry Anderson Regatta in Connecticut - to defend his title of A-Division champion. Peter Deming and Taylor Clark will sail B-Division.

Back at the Farm for pre-season on September 17th, the team starts out with a focus on qualifying for the Singlehanded (Men's & Women's) and Keelboat Nationals, both held in the fall season. The fall concludes with both Men's and Women's Double handed Pacific Coast Champs in November, hosted by UC Santa Barbara. The Spring Season begins officially in March (although the team will attend some winter events at USC, U Hawaii and Eckerd College, FL) with the Jeremy McIntyre Team Race regatta at Stanford . The year will conclude in June with the Women's, Team Race and Coed National Championships hosted by the Northwest College Sailing Association at the Columbia River Gorge. Between September and June the 27 Sailing Team members will participate in workouts, daily practice sessions and over 50 days of on the water competition across the country, from one day meets at Cal to major intersectionals at the US Naval Academy.

Sailing World College Rankings
Determined by Sailing World's coaches' panel.

Also receiving votes:
Boston Coll
South Florida
UC/Santa Barbara
Rhode Island
U/Washington

Also receiving votes:
Connecticut Coll
South Florida
Boston Coll
Tulane