2011-2012 - Team Picture

This school year 2011-2012 was the first year at Loyola that the sailing team had a team picture taken for the year book and everyone is excited and happy . The Loyola Sailing team is the largest high school team in the country with sixty plus kids on the team between the Varsity, Junior Varsity and Club team. It was a great season this year with all of our sailors.

Great Lakes Championship – Chicago, IL Nov 12, 2011

Due to wind conditions on Sunday, the sailors were unable to get out on the water but were able to get races in on Saturday. A breezy and wavy day made sailing fun and tiring. In A division, skipper Melinda Lee and crew, RJ Porter, Conner Croft and Julianna Lee, placed 7th. In B division, skipper RJ Porter and crews Conner Croft, Colleen Croft and Mitchell Lee placed 3rd. The Loyola team placed 5th overall, ending the season on a good note.

Shepard Cup – Chicago, IL Nov 12, 2011

Due to wind conditions on Sunday, the sailors were unable to get out on the water. Luckily, Saturday was a great day to go sailing. The Loyola White team placed 1st overall. In A division, skipper James Kohn and crew Colleen Kollar, took over the racecourse and won 1st in their division. In B division, James Kinzel and Annie Conway took 2nd. Congratulations to the rest of the sailors from Loyola who competed as well.

Halloween Regatta – Fontana, WI Oct 29-30, 2011

The Halloween Regatta, which is usually sailed in Lake Forest, was a fun weekend and full of wind. Sailors from all teams wore costumes, on the boat and off. With two separate fleets of 420s out on the race course, there was a total of 33 boats out on the water; 21 in the Invitational fleet and 12 in the Open fleet. In the Invitational fleet, the Loyola Gold team placed 6th overall. In A division, skipper RJ Porter and crews Colleen Croft and Colleen Kollar, placed 10th. Their B division boat, skipper Melinda Lee and crews Colleen Kollar and Conner Croft, placed 2nd. The Loyola Maroon team placed 14th overall. A boat, skipper Mitchell Lee and crew Jimmy Moriarty, placed 13th and their B boat, James Kinzel and Julianna Lee, placed 12th in their division. In the Open fleet, skipper James Kohn dominated the fleet by taking six 1st finishes. All of the other Loyola sailors did an outstanding job and everyone had a great time.

White Bear Regatta – White Bear, MN Oct 22-23, 2011

The Loyola team drove over eight hours to White Bear, Minnesota for a weekend of racing. The first day was 0 to 5 mph, making the sailors impatient during races. Although there was little to no wind, the sailors were able to get off the line and finish in top 10s. On Sunday, the breeze picked up a bit to 8 to 12 mph making races a little more interesting to watch and sail in. The Loyola Gold team took home some hardware by placing 2nd overall. In A division, RJ Porter and Julianna Lee placed 2nd. In B division, Melinda Lee and Colleen Croft placed 1st. The Loyola Maroon team placed 8th overall. Their A boat, Conner Croft and Diana Perez, placed 8th and their B division boat, James Kohn and Annie Conway, placed 10th. All of the other Loyola sailors, who again were split up amongst other teams, raced strongly and had some awesome finishes.

US Coast Guard Invitational – New London, CT Oct 15-16, 2011

Five of the Loyola varsity sailors headed out to new London, Connecticut to sail at the Us Coast Guard Naval Academy. Both days the winds were blowing 25 to 30 mph. There were a total of 22 boats ranging from the East Coast, Midwest and from Bermuda. In A division, RJ Porter and crews James Kohn and Colleen Croft placed 7th and Melinda Lee with crew Conner Croft placed 5th in B division. The Loyola team took home 5th place overall making their coach Zac Hernandez extremely happy. Throughout the regatta, the team was placing top 10s and even placed 1st in some races.

MISSA Great Oaks Qualifier – Culver, IN Oct 8-9

The Loyola sailing team headed down to Culver, Indiana with car loads of sailors ranging about 20 kids. Winds were 10 - 15mph on Saturday enabling for Race Committee to get tons of races in. Temperatures were in the 80’s making a great weekend to be out on the water. The Loyola Gold team, skipper RJ Porter and crew Julianna Lee, placed 3rd in A division. Their B division boat, James Kohn and Annie Conway, placed 2nd. For the Loyola Maroon team, Skipper Marshall Fordon and crew Irene Dobbs (from ETHS) placed 6th in A division. His B boat, George Ernst and Diana Perez, placed 5th in their division. All of the other sailors did an exceptional job and had fun as well.

Talbot Regatta – Chicago, IL Oct 1-2

Due to heavy wind and big rolling waves forced the regatta management to cancel sailing on Saturday morning. On Sunday, the waves and wind died down a bit enabling the sailors to race. The Loyola Gold team placed 3rd overall. In the A division, RJ Porter and Colleen Croft placed 5th and their B division, Melinda Lee and Conner Croft, placed 1st by one point. The Loyola Maroon team placed 7th overall. In A division, James Kohn and Annie Conway, placed 9th and their B division boat, Matt Goschi and George Ernst, placed 6th. All of the other Loyola sailors, who were scattered amongst other teams, placed mid-fleet. Loyola had yet another successful weekend, this time out on the waters of Lake Michigan.

Grosse Ile Regatta – Grosse Ile, MI Sept 17-18, 2011

The sailors were treated to sunny skies, temperatures in the 60's, and winds ranging from 5-12 knots. With a 20 boat fleet, the Loyola Gold team grabbed 1st place overall. Sailors RJ Porter and Colleen Croft placed 4th in A division; Sailors Melinda Lee and Conner Croft placed 2nd in B division. The Loyola Maroon team excelled as well. Skipper James Kohn and crew George Ernst placed 8th in A division and their B division boat, skipper Matt Goschi and crew Annie Conway, placed 4th. All of the other Loyola sailors, who were scattered amongst other teams, did outstanding as well. Loyola had a successful weekend on the waters of Western Lake Erie during the event.

Kick Off Classic – Wilmette, IL Sept 10-11, 2011

The Loyola team sailed out of their own harbor at Sheridan Shores Yacht Club this weekend. The winds were not blowing as much as the sailors would have wanted. Winds were from 0 to 8 mph. The weekend was sunny and a 21 boat turnout. Two of the Loyola teams placed 10th and the other placed 11th. Everyone had a blast and enjoyed being out on Lake Michigan.

Mallory Nationals 2011

The Loyola Varsity sailors, which consisted of Alex Post, Melinda Lee, Chris Lynch, Colleen Kollar, Thomas Cook, Conner Crfot, Colleen Croft, and Mitchell Lee, headed down to Austin, TX for Mallory Nationals. On Friday, the team practiced at the regatta cite on Lake Travis with all of the other teams. The boats being used for the regatta were FJs instead of 420s which the sailors use back at home. On Saturday, the breeze was heavy and the sun was hot. Coaches Zac and Dave made sure they were all drinking plenty of water. At the end of Saturday, the team was unfortunately in last place. On Sunday, Zac predicted the team could move up to 17th place instead of 19th place. Granted, 17th place was many points ahead of Loyola and it would be a hard fight to achieve. Sure enough, by the end of the regatta, Loyla placed 17th overall. Everyone was able to sail and all had a great time down in Texas.

Mallory Qualifiers 2011

Your Loyola Academy Varsity Sailing Team just qualified for Mallory Nationals for the 3rd straight year yesterday. The team was comprised of Tom Cook, Chris Lynch, Alex Post, Melinda Lee, Colleen Kollar, Conner Croft, Colleen Croft, and Mitch Lee.



1st Place Team Overall: Loyola Academy

1st Place A Division: Alex Post, Melinda Lee, Conner Croft, and Mitch Lee

2nd Place B Division: Chris Lynch, Colleen Kollar, Tom Cook, and Colleen Croft



The team ended Saturday with 3 straight bullets and a strong 16-point lead on Oconomowoc, while Minnetonka, Lake Forest HS, and Lake Forest Academy where all with in 12 points of each other. Good news was that we knew we just had to get through Sunday clean, no OCS, no protest and no capsize.

We started off Sunday with our worst 4 races of the regatta and tried to lose our 16-point lead (A Division). Good news is that the other 4 teams didn’t do much better then us. We still had an 11-point lead on the other 4 teams. The other 4 teams where all within 5 points of each other now.

After that little scare Lynch and Kollar decided to head out and hit the committee boat at the start of the next race and get an OCS. I think they rounded the 1st mark in 14th out of 16. They worked really hard the rest of the race and finished 8th.


I sat down with Alex and Melinda before sending them back out and discussed that this might be the last A 2 races of the regatta. We needed them to come out and put the Hammer Down, so the other 4 teams knew that getting 1st place was just not an option. They came back to the dock with a solid 2, 3. Could not have asked for anything better. We where aiming for top 4 and better for the rest of the races.

The breeze was now a steady 20 plus, puffs into the 30s.

Now it was time to sit down with Lynch and Cook. We talked about being really safe, no corners, keeping a strong eye on OC and LF, and of course keeping the boat up right. I have to say Lynch and Cook where very nervous and not really talkative heading out. They new what had to be done. There was a chance that these where going to be that last 2 races of the regatta. They went out and came back to dock with only 8 points in 2 races. Exactly what we needed them to do.

The race committee then announced that there we going to do a one and one and then end the regatta. That meant A was going to go out a do 1 race and then B was going to go out and do 1 race.

Time to have another sit down, way away from everyone else with Post and Melinda. We talked about mainly the same thing that we have been chatting about all day. No OSC, no Capsize, safe start and then have a clean race. About half way through our talk Lynch was already back to the dock and headed over to listen, then give out his insight of his last 2 races. I told Alex and Melinda this was the moment they have been waiting for the entire regatta and it was time to Dream Crush. Alex and Melinda had a very clean race and finished 4th. A perfect race, very clean.


We had a 6-point lead on OC and an 11-point lead on LF and MN, the only 3 teams that could touch us. I made it very clear that we did not care out OC; we had to make sure that we didn’t lose 10 or more points to MN or LF. Lynch and Cook needed to head out and not get worse than a 10th and we would have Nationals all locked up and ready to book our tickets to Austin TX.

Lynch and Cook maybe even more silent than before, headed into their boat and out to the race course. They had a bad start and ended up rounding the 1st mark in 11th. Not quite the start we wanted and made the next 10 minutes very tense on the dock. I had to make Alex Post watch the race, because our little buddy was shaking. I told him, “If I had to watch the race he was going to watch the race, this is was makes men." Lynch and Cook rode a nice puff all the way downwind to get much closer to the group ahead of him (still in 11th). Then they decided to buy some property on the left side of the racecourse while everyone else was buying on the right. That was not a fun leg for everyone to watch. But their real state choice paid off and they pasted 6 boats and rounded the last mark in 4th. Now they just had to put on cruse control and ride the wave down to the finish.

The team ended up winning the regatta by 10 points to Minnetonka.



Mallory Nationals are May 7th and 8th in Austin Texas.

Coast Guard Regatta 2010

Regatta Highlights:

Saturday morning was postponed until 1120 where A-Division went out for their first set in 420’s. There were a few capsizes on the final beat with winds gusting to the mid 20’s from the North-Northwest. B-Division was held at the dock until all boats got back to the basin at which time they sailed to the starting line. During the sequence for race one B, the breeze increase to 25+ and several boats capsized and the race was abandoned before the weather mark. We postponed until 2:30and called it a day.

Sunday brought Westerly breeze in the morning and both 420’s and FJ’s were used for the day. Eighteen races were sailed using Gold Cup and Triangle Windward courses. The Divisions switched fleets after race six and the breeze shifted to the Southwest for the final Set.

Loyola came in 3rd out of 20 boats. Alex, Melinda, and Colleen came in 2nd in A Division. Chris, Grace, and Thomas came in 7th in B Division.

Loyola Academy A 2 2 1 7 7 12 3 1 1 5 41
Wilmette, IL B 7 12 3 12 14 8 5 6 8 5 80
9 23 27 46 67 87 95102 111 121 121