Tars earn sweep at regatta

Newport Harbor wins in two divisions at the Rose Bowl Regatta in Long Beach. Corona del Mar and Sage Hill each take thirds.Newport Harbor High’s sailing team won the high school gold and silver divisions at last weekend’s Rose Bowl Regatta in Long Beach.

Corona del Mar took third in the Gold Division and UC Irvine was fifth in the College Division in the two-day event at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. Sage Hill’s junior varsity team placed third in the Silver Division.

Competitors in the gold and college divisions participated in eight A races Saturday and eight B races Sunday. The silver division had 11 races, six on Saturday and five on Sunday.

Junior Charlie Buckingham and senior Marla Menninger sailed for Newport Harbor in the A division, scoring 35 points to place second. Michael Menninger and Brooke Thomson were the Tars’ representatives in the B races, rolling to a first-place finish with 12 points.

Their combined score of 47 was more than enough to defeat defending national champion Point Loma’s 78 points.

Peter Stemler and Christine Burke sailed for Corona del Mar, which finished with 116 points in the gold division. Newport Harbor’s junior varsity finished sixth, followed by the Sea Kings’ junior varsity in seventh. Sage Hill took 11th.

In the silver division, Newport Harbor’s second JV team won the A races and was second in the B races to defeat Point Loma’s JV, 118-161. Wade Hatton and Dane Butera were the skippers for the Tars, with Lindsay Beavers and Caitlin Beavers serving as crewmembers.

Sage Hill’s junior varsity was third with 185 points.

UC Irvine’s crew of Frank Tybor and Whitney Loufek was second in the college division A races, but the Anteaters’ team of William Pochereva and Payson Infelise with Lisa Manuzak and Delaney Lynch slipped to eighth in the B races.

All teams sailed two-person CFJ dinghies in the regatta. USC was the host school for the competition.