ST. PETERSBURG (February 23, 2024) – The University of South Florida sailing team will play host on February 24-25 to the first cross-regional women's team race of the season.

Teams from distant conferences will travel to the Bay area to compete in the relatively warm waters, including MIT, Hawaii, Northwestern, Old Dominion, and College of Charleston, with Jacksonville University, along with USF, in the field.  

Several of these teams are ranked in the Top 25 nationally which will shape up for a competitive and challenging race. South Florida enters the spring ranked No. 16.

USF will have seniors Emma Shakespeare and Hannah Marsicano, juniors Kay Brunsvold, Kalea Woodard, Heidi Hicks, Ochithya Fernando, and Janie Powell, sophomore Madisen Hamai, and freshmen Kailey Warrior and Marina Dreyfuss will compete.

The race format is set for three rounds of round-robin style racing, with each team sailing every other team three times.

With a full moon over the weekend, the high and low tides will be more extreme than normal, resulting in some strong current for Tampa Bay. Add a cold front passing through and winds should be excellent for the competitors. A great weekend is on deck in St. Pete to open college sailing's women's team racing season.

About USF Sailing
The USF sailing program has reached the national finals in 10 of the last 11 years. The Bulls finished in the top 10 during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The sailing team is based out of St. Petersburg and has been led since 2014 by head coach Allison Jolly, a former USA Olympian, 2016 Florida Sports Hall of Fame inductee and 2019 U.S. National Sailing Hall of Fame inductee.
 
Follow the team on Twitter and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information.

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