Tufts ends spring season with top 10 finishes at nationals

In June the sailing team affirmed to the rest of the nation that it was one of the top co-ed squads in the country, placing fifth at the Gill Co-ed Dinghy National Championship, held at St. Mary's College in Maryland. The Jumbos, with a final line of 98-163-261, were only one point behind Stanford, which finished fourth in the competition, and seven points behind Boston College, which finished third.

On day one of the two-day competition, winds were very high (10-12 knots) and shifty, making sailing difficult. Winds on the second day were much slower (5-8 knots), but later picked up and allowed for competition to commence.

Skipper Will Haeger (LA '14) and crew Paula Grasberger (LA '14) led the scoring charge in the A division, as they placed second out of 18 teams with a score of 98 at the end of the competition. They managed first place finishes in the first, third, sixth and 10th races, as well as second places finishes in the fourth, seventh and ninth races. On day one, they carried the Tufts team to a second place standing in the championship.

The Jumbos were represented in the B division by skippers senior Alec Ruiz-Ramon (races one through 14) and sophomore Scott Barbano (races 15 through 18), as well as crew sophomore Alex Tong (races one through five, 15 through 18) and senior Sam Madden (races six through 14). Ruiz-Ramon and Tong took first in the third race, while Ruiz-Ramon and Madden took the top spot in both the seventh and ninth races. Overall, the Jumbos in the B division were able to take 13th overall with 163 points.

"The Dinghy Championship started out relatively windy on day one, with the breeze slowly dying throughout the day," Ruiz-Ramon said. "The second day was lighter and flukier with a new wind direction that was eventually replaced by a sea breeze for a brief period of time."

Ruiz-Ramon executed his technique flawlessly in order to take the top spot in three races.

"I found myself making great decisions when I popped out in front of the fleet and found it easy to pass boats and win a couple of races," he said. "However, my results were inconsistent because I had quite a few issues starting and putting myself in a place to do well."

A week earlier, the Jumbos competed in the APS Team National Championship, also held at St. Mary's College. The team posted a 10-5 record in the first round to advance to the next round but later bowed out of the competition with a 1-6 record in the semifinals, scoring a lone victory against the United States Naval Academy. Yale won the competition with a 22-3 overall record. It was Tufts' first time competing at the championship since 2010, as they had missed qualifying the past three seasons.

"Going into nationals we ranked 10th, so a fifth at co-eds and an eighth in team racing were not all that bad," Tong said. "Neither performance was the best or worst outcome, but we were very pleased with the result."

Ruiz-Ramon also believes that the performance will help mobilize the team.

"As a team we performed extremely well, but falling from second overall on day one to fifth overall on day two leaves a slight sting that will motivate me as well as the rest of the team to work hard throughout the year," he said.

The squad will begin its 2014-2015 season in September with a chip on its shoulder, but will aim to be better than ever.

"We were neither the underdogs going into the competition, nor the favored team," Tong said. "But although we knew it would not be easy, that did not stop us from remaining optimistic."