Monday, April 18, 2011

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.