BY ERIK FLYNN
You may have never heard of them, but a Mariemont team is moving on to the national finals.
Sort of…
The Mariemont Sailing Team will be competing at the Interscholastic Sailing Association nationals in New Orleans this November, due largely to the surprising success of the upstart team.
While the team is not technically a school sport, athletic director Tom Nerl explains, “They’re an unsponsored school sport. We don’t give them money, but we allow them to use our name.”
What began as junior Griffin Rolander’s summertime pastime is now growing to be a team that includes several Mariemont students.
“I started by mixing with a high school team in Wisconsin my freshman year and went to a few regattas,” explained Rolander. “Then my sophomore year I got Alec Ahrens to crew for me.”
For Ahrens, competitive sailing has been an exciting new experience compared to the leisure sailing he was used to at his lake house in Michigan.
“It’s been a whole new experience for me personally because I’m not used to sailing competitively, but I’ve liked the change to more high pressure sailing. It’s definitely more of a rush,” Ahrens said.
The team has had a large amount of relative success. Rolander and Ahrens placed third at their first regatta, competing against schools from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan.
The duo’s most outstanding feat so far is their advancement to the national level regatta in New Orleans. This regatta, to take place on November 19th, is among the top 36 boating events in the nation.
“We’re aiming to be one of the top ten sailing teams in the Midwest,” explained Rolander.
The team now includes two boats. The first is sailed by Rolander and Ahrens; the second by junior George Koglmeier and freshman Nick Weston.