STANFORD, Calif. - No. 2 Stanford sailing prepares for its first conference championship of the spring slate, heading to Hawai'i for the PCCSC Women's Team & Fleet Race Championship on April 4-6.
Ten events into the spring schedule, Stanford has recorded five regatta wins and has finished inside the top four in all ten events.
LAST TIME OUT » No. 2 Stanford sailing wrapped up a busy weekend of competition on the Northeast waters, securing a pair of top-3 finishes at the Dellenbaugh Trophy Women's Team Race and Marchiando Trophy Open Team Race.
The Dellenbaugh Women's Team Race, hosted by Brown, saw the Cardinal record a 12-3 weekend record to finish second in the event, falling one race short of champion Yale. The competition began with a 10-team round-robin on Saturday, where Stanford registered six wins against the field to qualify for the Gold Top 4 alongside Brown, Harvard, and Yale.
The second portion of the competition included two rounds of Gold Top 4 races, where Stanford went a combined 6-0 against the top teams in the weekend. A third round of Gold Top 4 races was slated to take place on Sunday afternoon, but conditions wouldn't cooperate and Yale was deemed the winner after riding an undefeated round-robin record to a regatta-leading 13 wins.
Vanessa Lahrkamp, Sophie Fisher, and Ellie Harned handled skipper duties in the Cardinal's three boats, while crew duties were assigned to Alice Schmid, Ashtyn Tierney, and Kit Harned.
"Brown is the nationals venue for this year's team championship race in three weeks, and I thought we put our best foot forward," head coach Chris Klevan said. "A lot of people might look at the scoreboard and say we beat the top team in two of three races but that is not my main takeaway. We have what it takes to win another championship, and I believe we are willing to get in the mud to achieve this. However, the goal is not to simply get to a level where winning it all is possible. The objective is to reach a point where winning is inevitable, and we are not yet at that point."
At the Marchiando Trophy regatta, the Cardinal raced in three rounds of round-robin competition, recording a 12-9 record on the weekend to finish third behind Boston College and Roger Williams.
Stanford went 4-3 in the opening round, inlcuding 1-2-3 sweeps over MIT and Rhode Island, before tallying a 3-4 record in the second round. The final round of sailing turned out to be Stanford's best effort of the weekend, recording a 5-2 record with wins over Boston College, MIT, Rhode Island, RWU, Tufts, and Tulane to jump into the top three of the team standings.
The Cardinal was led by skippers Dylan Sih, Lucas Woodworth, Thomas Whidden, Thomas Sitzmann, and Reade Decker, while Shay Wood, Abby Baird, Alexandra Jones, and Piper Blackband served as crew for the regatta.
"It is easy to forget how young our team is. They all work hard and take this sport seriously," Klevean added about his Marchiando Trophy contingent. "I find myself thinking of them as more mature than they actually are, and it is easy to compare them to some of the greats who have graduated in recent years. Greats that put in the work and learned these lessons critical for growth long before those present currently could witness. This team struggled in Boston last weekend, partially due to the strange conditions present as the breeze tries to make its way through the ever-growing city, as well as the strain training over spring break puts on the team. There must be growing pains and some discomfort on the road to a championship. This team isn't just getting better, working harder, but they are getting tougher and I think they are starting to realize what it will take to be great."
Stanford's next competition will be the PCCSC Women's Team and Fleet Race Championship on April 4-6, hosted by the University of Hawai'i.
FALL RECAP » A successful fall season saw the Cardinal win eight of the 19 regattas on the slate. Most notably, won PCCSC titles in the Match Race, Singlehanded, Women's Fall, and Open Championships.
The Cardinal also earned regatta wins in the Women's ACC Round 1, the Captain Hurst Bowl, Women's ACC Finals, the Open ACC Championship, and the Top-9 invite.
Stanford's accomplished fall was rewarded by a No. 1 fall ranking in both the Open and Women's division, as decided by Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA). ICSA rankings are voted and decided on by a panel of ICSA head coaches.
LAST SEASON » Stanford cemented itself as the best women’s sailing program in the nation in 2024, completing the sweep of the ICSA Women’s Team and Fleet Race Championships, also becoming back to back champions in the Women’s Fleet.
Stanford’s fall season began with eight regatta wins. Along with the success on the water, the Cardinal sailors also celebrated their 2023 trophies, as the team received its championship rings at a football game.
Stanford picked up right where it left off to start the spring season, winning six straight regattas. The Cardinal went on to claim four conference championship trophies, taking both the women and open divisions of the team and fleet races.
To cap off the season before Nationals began, Stanford claimed the PCCSC Open Team Race title and the Thompson trophy over the same weekend. The Cardinal went 38-1 across the two events to take the wins in a conference championship and a premier interconference trophy.
The Cardinal then headed to the Charles River where it competed in four straight national championships hosted by MIT. In the first regatta, Stanford earned a top five finish, taking fifth place in the ICSA Open Team Race. The result was Stanford's sixth straight top-five finish, dating back to 2018.
Directly following the open team race, Stanford captured its first title of the 2024 spring season. The Cardinal took the trophy in dominant fashion, as Stanford sailed to an 18-1 record to top the field at the ICSA Women's Team Race National Championship.
In the following national championship event, Stanford claimed yet another title. The Cardinal took its second straight ICSA Women's Fleet Race title and its fifth national title overall, topping the field on the Charles River in Massachusetts.
The title was Stanford's fourth national title in the last calendar year (2023 - ICSA Women's Fleet, ICSA Open Fleet; 2024 - ICSA Women's Team, ICSA Women's Fleet). The Cardinal also won multiple national titles in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history.
Following Stanford's dominant performance in the national championships, the Cardinal took home plenty of individual accolades.
Vanessa Lahrkamp was named the Quantum Women's College Sailor of the Year, the second in program history as Lahrkamp joins her sister who earned the accolade in 2020. Vanessa Lahrkamp was instrumental in leading Stanford to the ICSA Women's Team and Fleet Race titles in 2024, also earning the title of PCCSC Women's Skipper of the Year.
Vanessa Lahrkamp also earned two All-America awards, claiming a nod as an ICSA Women's Skipper All-American and an ICSA Open Skipper Honorable Mention selection. It's the second straight year Lahrkamp was honored in both the Women's and Open divisions.
Michelle Lahrkamp also earned two All-America awards for the second straight season, being named both an ICSA Women's Skipper and Open Skipper All-American.
Hannah Freeman earned her second consecutive ICSA Women's Skipper All-America award while Thomas Sitzmann joined the Lahrkamp sisters with an ICSA Open Skipper All-America nod.
Stanford also had three crews named All-Americans. Alice Schmid, Ellie Harned, and Gwendolyn Donahue were each named All-America Crews after their dominant performances led Stanford to two national titles.