| NEWPORT, R.I. (May 24, 2019) – The Quantum Women’s Sailor of the Year and Women’s All-Americans and Honorable Mentions were announced during an awards presentation following racing in the Sperry College Sailing Women’s National Championship at Sail Newport Sailing Center. The Quantum Women’s Sailor of the Year is awarded annually to an individual who has performed at the highest level of competition in district and national championships. The ICSA All-America committee evaluates with great detail all of the finalists’ results and calculates the winner. Quantum believes that women sailors should receive the same recognition that male sailors receive in the sport to acknowledge their excellence in sailing and continue to foster the growth of women’s sailing. Today, Dawn Riley, the first woman to manage an entire America’s Cup syndicate, the first American, man or woman, to sail in three America’s Cups and two Whitbread Round the World races, helped to present the award on behalf of Quantum Sail Design Group. There were three finalists this year, Alie Toppa, College of Charleston ‘20, Louisa Nordstrom, Yale University ‘20 and Ragna Agerup, Brown University ‘20. All three finalists had an accomplished year of college sailing. Competing not just in women’s events, but many coed and team race events finishing at the top of their fleets. The winner, by the numbers is Ragna Agerup. Agerup had an incredible year of competition most recently winning A-division in the 2019 Sperry College Sailing Women’s National Championship Semifinals (Eastern) and Finals. “I am really psyched for Ragna,” says John Mollicone, Barry Family sailing director and head coach at Brown. “She has been the best female skipper all year, but she is also our coed B-division skipper and a team race skipper, so she did not sail as many women’s events.” “She is an Olympian and competed in the 2016 Rio Games for Norway in the 49erFX, so she is talented and driven,” he says, “she is a real competitor and fierce.” Agerup started sailing at a young age at eight years old in an optimist and then moving onto the 29er and 49erFX. She comes from a sailing family. When not competing in college sailing, she often races with her twin sister Maia, who sails for Boston University. “Winning this award feels surreal,” says Agerup. “I didn’t expect it going into nationals – I am letting it sink in.” Agerup has one more year of college and is studying computer science. “I wanted to take a break from Olympic sailing and get my degree,” she says, “but after I graduate I will keep sailing – it is really hard to stay away from sailing.” The Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) also announced the 2018-19 Women’s All-America Team. The names of the winners will be added to the ICSA Hall of Fame displayed at the Robert Crown Center at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. A committee of representatives from the seven conferences in the ICSA selects the ICSA All-America Team. This year’s committee is: MAISA: Ian Burman (chair), Brian Clancy, MCSA: Geoff Pedrick, NEISA: David Thompson, Stan Schreyer, NWICSA: Scott Wilson, PCCSC: Blaine Pedlow, SAISA: Ward Cromwell, SEISA: Charles Higgins. To select an All-American skipper, the committee evaluates a competitor based on their competitive record in inter-conference competition as well as conference and national championships. The committee analyzes how this record compares to fellow competitors, the quality of the competition the record was achieved in, and results achieved competing with different crews, the span of the record over the fall and spring seasons, and how the record compares to previous All-American winners. The committee selects up to 10 Women All-American skippers and additional Honorable Mentions, together totaling no more than 15. However this year, with so many exceptional sailing, the executive committee expanded the total to 17. This year the committee selected eight All-American skippers and nine Honorable Mentions. ICSA Honorable Mention Women’s All-American Skippers: Bailey Carter (Winter Park, Fla.), Hobart & William Smith ‘19 Audrey Giblin (Monmouth Beach, N.J.), Dartmouth College ‘20 Emily Haig (Beach Haven, N.J.), Massachusetts of Technology ‘21 Sophie Hibben (Concord, Mass.), Brown University ‘19 Annie Hughes (Guilford, Conn.), Massachusetts Institute of Technology ‘19 Emma Kaneti (Larchmont, N.Y.), Harvard University ‘22 Riley Legault (Bonita Spring, Fla.), George Washington University ‘19 Gabby Rizika (Chestnut Hill, Mass.), Cornell University ‘20 Emma White (Annapolis, Md.), Dartmouth College ‘19 ICSA Women’s All-American Skippers: Maia Agerup (Oslo, Norway), Boston University ‘20 Ragna Agerup (Oslo, Norway), Brown University ‘20 Christine Klingler (Larchmont, N.Y.), Yale University ‘20 Isabella Loosbrock (Excelsior, Minn.), Boston College ‘19 Louisa Nordstrom (Sarasota, Fla.), Yale University ‘20 Sophia Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Boston College ‘21 Hannah Steadman (St. Petersburg, Fla.), Brown University ‘20 Alie Toppa (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), College of Charleston ‘20 Quantum Women’s Sailor of the Year Ragna Agerup (Oslo, Norway), Brown University ‘20 To learn more about the teams competing in all of the events and to follow the racing and results visit the event website: https://2019nationals.collegesailing.org/ Dan Egan, of Degan Media, will provide some live coverage during the events, presenting sponsor is US Sailing and supporting sponsor of the live coverage is LaserPerformance, streaming from the event website. Team Racing: May 25, half to 3/4 day of coverage, release of Women’s recap video; May 26, full day coverage; May 27, full day coverage and awards; May 28, release of Team Racing video Coed: May 29, full day coverage; May 30, full day coverage; May 31, full day coverage and awards; June 3, release of Coed recap. Follow the events via the regatta app from US Sailing, learn how to sign up here: ICSA Nationals App Additional social media updates will be available throughout the events on the regatta website. Rob Migliaccio will be providing photos for these events. Contact: Jennifer Mitchell |Toile à Voile for ICSA | media@collegesailing.org | 970-216-7072 m. The ICSA sponsors and partners through the 2018-19 season are: LaserPerformance (www.laserperformance.com), title sponsor of “LaserPerformance Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded National Championship”, title sponsor of “LaserPerformance College Sailing Team Race National Championship” and Official Boat Supplier of the ICSA Spring National Championships. Sperry (www.sperry.com), title sponsor of the “Sperry College Sailing Women’s National Championship”. Gill North American (gillna.com), title sponsor of “The Gill College Sailing National Championship”. Quantum Sail Design Group (www.quantumsails.com), official sponsor of the “Quantum Women’s College Sailor of the Year”. Marlow Ropes (www.marlowropes.com), presenting sponsor of the “Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year Award” and “Official Rope of College Sailing”. US Sailing (www.ussailing.org), “The Robert H. Hobbs Sportsman of the Year Sponsored by US Sailing” and “The 2019 College Sailing Live Coverage Presented by US Sailing”. Professional Boats (www.professionalboats.com/), official sponsor of the 2019 ICSA Spring National Championships. |
