ITHACA, N.Y.—(11/17/13)—Lead by a divisional win by Nikole Barnes and Justine Morrison in B-Division, the 11th ranked women's sailing team finished fifth at the Women's Atlantic Coast Championship hosted by Cornell University. The result is the Bears' best performance at the championship in the history of the program.
The Women's Atlantic Coast Championship was sailed on the southern end of Cayuga Lake out of the Merrill Family Sailing Center. Eighteen teams from the Atlantic Coast – thirteen of which are ranked in the top-15 in the country – qualified from their respective conferences to compete in this fall championship.
Racing got underway on Saturday in light and shifty conditions. Coast Guard got off to a strong start and began to put a significant amount of points between themselves and many of their competitors. The Bears excelled in Saturday's conditions, spending much of the day atop the leaderboard, and finishing the day in third overall.
Sunday brought chillier temperatures and stronger breeze, which proved to more of an equalizer for the fleet. Scores quickly became very tight with lead changes amongst the top group after almost every race. Despite a few uncharacteristically high scores late in the event, the Bears held on to a fifth place finish.
The team's effort was lead by Nikole Barnes and Justine Morrison who won B-Divion with 51 points. Barnes and Morrison only finished outside of the top-5 twice during the event and won races 8 and 10. In A-Division, Devon Rohde and Jaimie Chicoine finished 14th with 124 points. They also had many top-5 finishes in the strongest A-Division fleet of the season.
