Sept. 21, 2012

STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford sailing team will kickoff its 2012 fall season this weekend while taking part in the St. Mary's Fall Intersectional (Sept. 22-23) and the San Diego Yacht Club Match Race (Sept. 22-23).

"We're really excited to start the season this weekend at two great events," Stanford head coach John Vandemoer said. "I have been pleasantly surprised with our preseason, which has been one of the best since I arrived at Stanford."

Representing the Cardinal at the St. Mary's Intersectional in St. Mary's City, Md., will be Oliver Toole, Haley Kirk, Kieran Chung-Wolf and Kelly Ortel. Toole, who earned All-America honors last season, and Kirk are set to compete in the A Division with Chung-Wolf and 2012 All-American Ortel setting sail in the B Divison of the event. Live results of the event will be available at scores.collegesailing.org.

The San Diego Yacht Club Match Race will feature the likes of All-American skipper Kevin Laube, Jack Ortel and McKenzie Wilson. Fans can follow the action at sdyc.org.

Complete results and recap for each event will be available at GoStanford.com. For the up-to-the-minute information on all things Stanford sailing, follow the program on Twitter (@StanfordSailing).

With the coed (4th) and women (8th) ranked among the nation's top 10 in the preseason polls, the Cardinal look to have another standout season. Stanford returns coed All-Americans Kevin Laube, Oliver Toole and Kelly Ortel.

Throughout the fall portion of the slate, Stanford will travel east nine times to compete against the country's best. Stanford sailors also seek to defend their Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference titles in singlehanded and match racing while improving upon top five finishes from last season's nationals.

The women's team will see some new faces this fall as both starters from nationals are abroad. Look for crew Rebecca King to step into the skipper role this fall and freshmen Yuki Yoshiyasu to immediately step into a starting role.

The match race team received a facelift with Laube at the helm and Hans Henken in the middle. McKenzie Wilson returns to the team from last year to run bow.

Other sailors to watch include team captains Katie Riklin and Helena Scutt, who will be leaders in the front of the boat and fill in when needed on both on the women's and coed side. On the skipper side, Chung will look to return to the singleheanded nationals for a second straight season. Chung will also get some starts at top-level East Coast events.