WAVE Magazine 2019 - 2020 | Page 15

JU Sailing Team Makes 15th National Championship Appearance Seven years ago, Jacksonville University Sailing Team Coach Jon Faudree arrived on campus from Rochester, NY, ready to build a team from scratch. With the support of University administration and sailing enthusiasts around the city, in its short history the team has already become a national powerhouse in collegiate sailing, with a string of National Championship appearances and individual accomplishments. In November 2019, the Sailing Team celebrated major milestones as JU sailors competed in the team’s 14th and 15th National Championship regattas. In Santa Barbara, Calif., Charlotte Rose ’22 and Maartje van Dam ’23 competed in the women’s singlehanded national championships against sailors from elite colleges around the country. Charlotte placed third, capping a string of stellar performances that included finishing ninth out of 150 sailors at the World Championships in Japan in July, and a silver medal at the Pan-American Games in Lima, Peru in August. Charlotte is now ranked first on the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team as she prepares to compete in the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia in February 2020. The results of that regatta will finalize who will represent the United States at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. As the action heated up in Santa Barbara, the JU Sailing Match Race team traveled to Marblehead, Mass. for the team’s second National Championship appearance in that discipline. JU Sailors Alfonso Garcia Bringas ’20, Andre Guaragna ’20, Telmo Basterra ’21 and Grace Benzal ’23 fought off 10 elite teams — including from Fordham University and Tufts — to finish third in the country behind Stanford University and Georgetown University. Alfonso Garcia Bringas ’20 and Jack Gower ’20 compete at Nationals. The fall National Championship performances cap off an incredible year of sailing success. In the spring of 2019, as the JU campus prepared for final exams, the JU Sailing Team was preparing for a test of a different kind: the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association’s spring National Championships in Newport, R.I. For the first time in its history, the team competed in all three spring National Championships: the qualifying Semi- Finals for Women’s and Co-ed, as well as the Team Race Finals. Continuing the team’s string of firsts, in Newport JU Sailors Alfonso, Jack Gower ’20 and Daniel Ofarrill ’22 won the Co-Ed Semi-Final “A Division,” besting the likes of Stanford, Navy, Dartmouth, Brown, Tufts and Boston University. With the A Division win and a strong showing in B Division, the team reached the Co-ed Finals for the first time in program history, by beating teams including Northwestern University, University of Notre Dame and University of Michigan. JU ultimately finished 16th in the country in the Co-ed Finals. “Making the finals at the spring National Championships has always been our 10-year goal, and we’re achieving it in only six years,” said Coach Faudree. “I’m so proud of all of the hard work our kids have put in – in the classroom, in the gym, and simulating race conditions during practice – to learn new strategies and become better decision-makers on the water.” The spring National Championships were the culmination of an outstanding 2018-2019 season during which the team was consistently ranked in the top 20 nationally and qualified for all six National Championships. JU is one of only three teams in the country to achieve that milestone; the other two are perennial sailing powerhouses Stanford University and College of Charleston – impressive company indeed. In addition, the team won the conference Women’s Championship and came in second at both the conference Co-ed Championship and conference Team Race Championship. In total, the team competed in 43 regattas around the country and traveled more than 30,000 miles in pursuit of its success during the 2018-2019 season. Thanks to the sailors’ hard work and focus during the season, Coach Faudree was named the Sail1Design/Gill Coach of the Year, an award that recognizes excellence in coaching across all levels of sailing and for which Coach Faudree was nominated by several of his peers. For Coach Faudree, the award is the culmination of many years of developing strong competitors. “My first year on campus, I wandered around looking for kids who looked like athletes, and convinced some of them to try sailing,” Coach Faudree said. “Now, thanks to our consistent high performance and a lot of time on the road recruiting, JU is attracting some of the best youth sailors in the country and internationally.” NEWS 15