Top US juniors

47 sailors are preparing for the 2008 U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship

Forty-seven top junior women sailors from across the States have been selected to compete in the 2008 U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship (JWS) for the Nancy Leiter Clagett Memorial Trophy hosted by the Macatawa Bay Yacht Club and sponsored by LaserPerformance from 3-8 August. The regatta will be sailed in Laser Radials over three days, preceded by a two-day advanced racing clinic.

This event, part of US Sailing's National Championship series, was founded in 1980 to encourage women's sailing in the United States by providing an opportunity for young women to compete at the national level. Among the past winners of this event is current Olympian, Amanda Clark. Also at stake for the top ten finishers will be the opportunity to attend two advanced junior women's racing clinics, which will be held in the spring of 2009.

The field of competitors, who range in age from 13 to 18 years old, are among the best junior women sailors throughout the United States. Racing is expected to be close between three top ten finishers of the 2007 JWS event including Eliza Richartz (third), Renee Gagne (sixth) and Marissa Lihan (seventh). Richartz, of Old Lime,
Connecticut, recently skippered her team to a second-place finish in last month's U.S. Junior Women's Doublehanded Championship and took eighth place at the Club 420 North American Championship. Gagne, of Darien, Connecticut, placed 18th in last year's U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the Laser Radial division. Lihan, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, recently placed 18th in a co-ed fleet of 95 Laser Radial sailors at the Atlantic Coast Championship.

The U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship for the Nancy Leiter Clagett Memorial Trophy is part of US Sailing's National Championships series. For more information about these events, visit www.ussailing.org/championships.