TAMPA (September 23, 2024) – The University of South Florida competed in the first two teams events of their fall schedule over the weekend. The Bulls sailed in the Sugar Bowl Women's Regatta, hosted by Tulane, in New Orleans and also competed in the SAISA Women's Top 9 Invite at the University of Jacksonville.
"The Bulls sailors crushed the competition," said head coach Allison Jolly about the SAISA Conference Top 9 Women's Regatta. Emma Shakespeare and Melissa Janes placed first overall and combined their scores with Kailey Warrior and Dana Aljasir who were fourth overall, good enough for the regatta victory. The other USF team featured Marina Dreyfuss and Cate Brennan in third overall, combining scores with Ghislaine van Empel and a "borrowed" crew from another team due to an injured USF sailor.
The combined efforts placed them third on the team leaderboard among the eight teams competing in Jacksonville.
At the Sugar Bowl Women's Regatta, Lake Pontchartrain provided interesting conditions, as the shallow waters provided challenging choppy waves with a premium on maintaining boat speed. Four veteran team members; seniors Kay Brunsvold, Heidi Hicks, and Kalea Woodard, plus junior Madisen Hamai were teamed with four first-time members of the traveling team – Grace Jones, Macy Parke, Sara Menesale, and Mercedes Newland.
USF placed sixth and eighth out of the eight competing and gained valuable lessons that will rapidly progress the team forward this season.
Up Next
The Bulls are back on the water at the ACC Women's Semifinals on September 28-29 in Providence, R.I.
About USF Sailing
The USF sailing program has reached the national finals in 11 of the last 12 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 and Gold Medalist, 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.
– #GoBulls –
