Longtime rivals and friends Andrew Campbell and Mikee Anderson-Mitterling faced a difficult decision last fall.
Finish their senior seasons in college as returning All-America sailors or delay graduation to prepare for the 2008 Olympics in China?
Both were ranked at the top of their respective Olympic classes as well as the collegiate sailing ranks.
They chose different paths.
Coronado's Anderson opted to delay his senior season at USC because so many of the major Olympic preparation regattas in his 470 class were being held this past spring during the collegiate sailing season.
Campbell, meantime, with many of his more important pre-Olympic regattas in the single-handed Laser class falling in the summer, decided to return to Georgetown University for his senior season.
Last week, Campbell succeeded Anderson as the Intercollegiate Sailing Association's College Sailor of the Year after leading Georgetown to the title of College Team of the Year.
Campbell opened his senior season by becoming the first skipper to win the ICSA single-handed title for a third time. He then led the Hoyas to the ICSA team racing title and runner-up finishes in the sloop and coed dinghy championships.
Next week the pair will be re-united in Kiel, Germany, as their courses to the Olympics cross.
Last year, Anderson became the fifth San Diegan since 1992 to be named the College Sailor of the Year. Brad Rodi (U.S. Naval Academy) won in 1992-93, Tim Wadlow (Boston University) won in 1997, Bill Hardesty (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy) won in 1998 and Tyler Pruett (Boston College) won in 2001.
Campbell is the sixth – and probably not the last. Point Loma High grad Adam Roberts made the All-America team as a freshman at Boston College. Coronado's Frank Tybor also joined Campbell and Roberts on the All-America team as a junior at UC Irvine and San Diego's Zachary Brown was an honorable mention pick as a sophomore at Yale.
Two San Diego coeds – and siblings of San Diego's male contingent – also were honored.
Melanie Roberts, a junior at USC, was named an All-America crew. And Tinja Anderson-Mitterling, a sophomore at the University of Hawaii, was an honorable mention on the women's skipper list.
Campbell talked about his decision to return to Georgetown – he graduated from the acclaimed School of Foreign Service last week with a degree in comparative government with an emphasis on South America – after being named College Sailor of the Year.
“I haven't sailed my Laser since last fall,” said Campbell. “I would have been cheating my team if I had focused too much on my Olympic campaign. My team has been my priority the last six months and to do well with them has been my goal.
“My hope is that this recognition can build esteem for my team and the sport's reputation at Georgetown.”
Cayard second
Paul Cayard skippered Pirates of the Caribbean to a win in the final leg of the Volvo (around the world) Ocean Race and a second overall to the winning ABN AMRO One entry.
Organizers already have announced changes for the next event, including going to a three-year rotation with the next races scheduled for 2008-09.
The race also will include stops in the Middle East, Asia and the West Coast of the U.S. – most likely Cayard's home port of San Francisco.
Rowing champion
San Diego's Elliot Hayes rowed in the No. 7 seat for the University of California varsity eight that upset Princeton to win the Intercollegiate Rowing Association national championship.
Hayes, 21, a graduate of Scripps Ranch High, started rowing with the San Diego Rowing Club. He is now at the U.S. National Team camp in Princeton, N.J.
Cal's victory was the Bears' 15th in the IRA finals. Following Princeton were Brown, Harvard, Washington and Yale.
National exposure
Four crews from San Diego rowed at the recent Junior Nationals near Cincinnati.
The SDRC women's quad (Caroline Curson, Michelle Garber, Taryn Guiney and Ashley Mullenger) was eighth. Ninths were scored by ZLAC's women's lightweight four (Jesi Bennett, Sarah Jackson, Maureen Alcock, Megan DeCort and Katrina Lazarte) and the SDRC men's quad (Doug Brown, Rob Ewing, Andrew Lee and Kendal Roper). The second SDRC quad (Sam Brown, Robert Poole, Kevin Rickon and Mike Hervey) finished 10th.
Miscellany
Three local junior teams will compete in the 29er Worlds sailing championships in England next month. The teams are Coronado Yacht Club's Pike Harris and Cooper Dressler, Judge Ryan from San Diego YC and crew Hans Henken of CYC and SDYC's Cameron Biehl and Matt Noble.
The trimaran Geronimo sailed the 4,482 miles from Yokohama, Japan, to San Francisco in 13 days, 6 hours, 38 minutes and 28 seconds and now holds both the west-to-east and east-to-west records for crossing the Pacific.
Bill Center: (619) 293-1851;
bill.center@uniontrib.com
