The Dartmouth sailing team competed in five different events in four different states this past weekend. The Big Green pulled out fourth-place finishes in three events along with sixth- and eighth-place finishes in the remaining two events.
The Big Green placed strongly in the Owen, Mosbacher and Knapp Trophies and the Boston Dinghy Club Cup on Saturday. Both events saw Dartmouth capture fourth-place finishes among 15 and 18 teams, respectively.
"This weekend was the capstone after our spring break training, and we are very pleased with the results," Raquel Merchant '12 said. "We are happy to see that we are improving and the results are definitely reflecting our improvement."
At the Owen, Mosbacher and Knapp Trophies, Dartmouth placed fourth in the A division with 72 points and third in the B division with 51 points for a total of 123 points. Competing on its home course, No. 1 Yale University took home the crown with a total of 78 points.
The Bulldogs were also victorious at the Boston Dinghy Club Cup the oldest trophy in college sailing hosted this year by No. 18 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Big Green totaled 148, 129 and 146 points in the three divisions of the event, which was good for third among Ivy League teams behind Brown University and Yale.
The final fourth-place finish of the weekend for Dartmouth was at the Women's Dublin Trophy Race, which featured nine teams. Dartmouth finished with a combined 13-13 in the three stages of the event, and Boston College won the regatta with a 18-8 record.
"We were able to focus on a lot of things we've been working on," Rachel Moncton '12 said. "We did a good job not only on sailing fast but on sailing clean races."
Dartmouth had another strong showing in the Southern Series Two event hosted by Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I. Dartmouth finished sixth out of 19 teams in the field, again placing behind Yale but narrowly ahead of Brown and Northeastern University with 176 points.
"We focused hard in spring break training on team racing strategies," Merchant said. "In three-boat races, team strategy is very important in how you perform. We were able to find a successful combination this weekend, which is an encouraging sign for our season."
The Big Green scored an eighth-place finish out of 10 teams in the Admiral Moore Team Race at the State University of New York Maritime College. The hosts won the event with a 14-4 final record while the United States Naval Academy and Georgetown University finished second and third, respectively.
"Last weekend was really encouraging because we aren't necessarily result-oriented so much as making sure we are improving and doing better," Moncton said.
The Dartmouth coed sailing team entered the weekend ranked No. 10 in the country behind only Yale and Brown in the Ivy League. The women's sailing team entered the weekend ranked No. 4 in the country, behind Georgetown, Yale and the University of Rhode Island.
"We have some team races this [upcoming] weekend and are really excited," Moncton said. "We've been focusing on team racing over spring break and we are excited to see how we've improved."
The team returns to action with another four regattas on Saturday. The Big Green will compete for the Dellenbaugh Trophy and Ferrerone Team Race in Rhode Island and at the Mystic Lake Team Race and Boston University Trophy in Massachusetts.
