UH Wahine win national sailing title
Advertiser Staff
When the University of Hawai'i was launching its women's sailing program in the fall of 1997, coach Andy Johnson told assistant athletic director Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohano-hano that they would win the national title in four years.
Photo courtesy of Derek Webster at http://www.collegesailing.org
"That was being a little overly optimistic, I guess . . . but darn we went and pulled it out!" Johnson said yesterday after the Wahine won the Intercollegiate Sailing Association North American Women's Championships in Cambridge, Mass.
Members of the UH team, from left, front, Jennifer Warnock and Melody Torres; back, Marin Diskant, Sarah Hitchcock, Molly O'Bryan and Renee DeCurtis.
"We went into the heart of college sailing," Johnson said. "We went into New England and basically stole it from them."
The Wahine scored a low-best 185 points. Defending champion Dartmouth, which led UH by four points to start the day, finished second with 200. St. Mary's of Maryland took third in the 18-school field with 206 points.
"We ended up winning by 15 but it doesn't show much stress there was," Johnson said. "It was a whole lot closer than 15 points."
The Wahine benefitted from a disqualification by Dartmouth's B division team in the first race of the day. Still, UH didn't take the lead until the next-to-the-last race of the competition.
"Race 17 was really, really huge," Johnson said. "Molly O'Bryan (UH's skipper in A division) took control of the lead and basically said, 'I'm the boss.' And Marin Diskant (UH's skipper in B division) was leading most of her race before being edged out."
O'Bryan's victory in Race 17 and Diskant's second-place finish vaulted the Wahine past Dartmouth and into first place by 14 points.
"The final race was just a matter of protecting our lead," Johnson said.
O'Bryan, whom Johnson calls "the fastest girl in America,' was named an All-American at the awards ceremony.
