SailMichigan Midwest College Sailing Fall 2014 Rankings

Here are the SailMichigan collegiate rankings for Fall 2014. As a reminder these are not sanctioned by the ICSA or MCSA but are generated to engage discussion and excellence in Midwest collegiate sailing. Although "unofficial", these rankings and the process used, should be attributed to SailMichigan if reported elsewhere.

The separate national collegiate rankings produced by Sailing World magazine are the result of a coach's poll which inherently places Midwest teams at a disadvantage. Teams from smaller Midwest colleges in particular, may not have professional coaches and are likely to be club-status teams. As a consequence, the voices for these teams are absent. SailMichigan rankings are performance based and reflect competition in the Midwest specifically.

The following was considered for the rankings:

1. Race results from 13 Midwest regattas were considered (2 promotional, 4 Interconference, and 7 In-conference).
2. Race results were taken directly from the Inter-Collegate Sailing Association website (official results). Regattas not reported through this source were not considered.
3. Single-sex regattas (Men only, Women only) were not considered.
4. Collegiate teams must have competed in at least 3 regattas to be considered. The average attendance for competing colleges in Fall 2014 was 3.2 regattas/college.
5. Among those that competed in more that 3 regattas, the best 3 performances were considered
6. Individual regatta performance was determined by the highest place a college team finished divided by the square of the total number of colleges (not teams) participating in that regatta. This gives more weight to teams placing well in large competitive regattas and does not bias for those colleges competing with more than one boat/team in a given regatta.

Trends in the rankings

As is consistent with previous years, collegiate performance can be seen as stratifying into tiers. Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota consistently appear in the highest tier and generally represent the most competitive programs. Wisconsin, in particular, occasionally shows up in the Sailing World national rankings. In this particular season, Michigan Tech, Western Michigan, Michigan State and Northwestern are appearing in tier 2. Ohio State and University of Illinois - Chicago cluster together with the remaining programs filling out the list. Of note, Hope College is demonstrating good effort clustering well among much larger schools.

Results for Fall 2014

Rank	School	Score
1	University of Michigan	3.2
2	University of Wisconsin	6.3
3	University of Minnesota	9.1
4	Michigan Technological University	10.3
5	Western Michigan University	10.9
6	Northwestern University	11.2
7	Michigan State University	11.6
8	Ohio State University	15.8
9	University of Illinois - Chicago	16.7
10	University of Notre Dame	18.3
11	Hope College	18.7
12	University of Illinois	18.9
13	Miami University	19.2
14	Grand Valley State University	19.6
15	Denison University	20.3
16	Washington University	23.7
17	Northern Michigan University	25.4
18	Marquette University	25.8
19	University of Chicago	33.7

SailMichigan Collegiate Rankings Fall 2013

In an effort to spark interest and discussion, SailMichigan has been producing rankings of Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association teams for the past several years. The rankings are based on regatta participation (a threshold must be reached) and weighted (# of colleges in the field) performances. The rankings utilize the official results posted through the InterCollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) website, however our rankings are not affiliated with or endorsed by either the ICSA or the MCSA.

For the Fall 2013 season, the following regattas were used in the evaluation; Emma Biagioni, Boudeman Cup, Chief Illiniwek, Buckeye Invitational, Fall Fury, Carey-Price, Davis Cup, Timme Angston, Streufert Cup, Denison JV, and Pere Marquette Cup. To be included in the rankings, teams from a given college/university must have competed in a minimum of three of the above regattas. The 3 best (weighted) scores were averaged and used to determine a schools ranking.

Rank    Score    School (# of 1st place finishes, # of 2nd place finishes)
  1          15.2      University of Wisconsin (1,4)
  2          17.9      University of Minnesota (2,2)
  3          31.0      University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (1,0)
  4          32.8      University of Michigan (2,0)
  5          34.8      Western Michigan University  (2,0)
  6          38.4      Northwestern University (0,0)
  7          41.5      Michigan Technological University (0,2)
  8          50.1      University of Illinois - Chicago (1,0)
  9          53.3      Miami University (1,1)
  10        58.7      University of Iowa (0,0)
  11        65.9      Purdue University (0,0)
  12        66.0      Ohio State University (0,2)
  13        70.0      Denison University (1,1)
  14        73.0      University of Illinois
  15        82.4      University of Chicago
  16        83.3      Hope College
  17        106.3    Marquette University
  18        117.5    Michigan State University
  19        122.6    Northern Michigan University

Rather than 19 different ranks, it might be more meaningful to consider the teams located within 8 different tiers (see different colors).

Sailing World magazine also provides collegiate rankings by an open "Coaches Poll". For the Fall 2013 season, they provided the following ranking:

MCSA
1. Wisconsin
2. Michigan
3. Minnesota
4. Northwestern
5. Purdue
6. Denison
(tie) Notre Dame
(tie) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Also receiving votes: Michigan State

One could debate the utility of a coaches poll ranking vs. a performance based ranking, especially when you consider many MCSA teams may not have dedicated coaches which would participate in such a ranking process.

SailMichigan Midwest Collegiate Rankings - Spring 2013

Now that regular season collegiate sailing action has ended in the Midwest, it is time to tabulate the results and provide some perspective. SailMichigan calculates a ranking series based on collegiate performance over the course of the Spring.

Of the 9 regattas held from March to May, the average participation by a Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association (MCSA) team was 2.58 regattas. For the purpose of evaluation, a cut-off was rounded to 3 events. This means that a team must have participated in 3 MCSA events to be considered for ranking. For those that met that threshold, their ranking score was determined as the average of their 3 best performances. An individual regatta performance by a given college was determined as:

    the highest place finish by the college
 (number of unique colleges participating)^2

Therefore if a given college/university fielded 3 teams for a given regatta, only the highest place team was considered and the other two remaining were removed from the calculation of the field. The number of teams (in the denominator) is squared to give more weight to the winners of those regattas with a broad and diverse field.

The regattas evaluated for the Spring were: Freshman Ice Breaker, Wittenberg Regatta, Wet Your Willie, OSU Spring Invitational, Hoosier Daddy Regatta, MCSA Coed Qualifiers, Oxford Classic Team Race, Wisconsin's 3 Division Regatta, Gopher Invitational

The results based on above (SailMichigan Rankings for Spring 2013):

Rank	University	Score
1	University of Wisconsin	9.18
2	University of Minnesota	19.70
3	Northwestern University	30.82
4	Michigan State University	33.77
5	University of Wisconsin Milwaukee	35.21
6	University of Michigan	40.23
7	University of Notre Dame	47.06
8	Marquette University	68.21
9	Western Michigan University	74.24
10	Miami University	78.52
11	Ohio State University	90.83
12	Denison University	120.88

Comparison with the Fall 2012 SailMichigan Rankings

University of Wisconsin - up 1
University of Minnesota - up 1
Northwestern University - up 1
Michigan State University - up 1
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee - not ranked in Fall
University of Michigan - down 5
University of Notre Dame - up 5
Marquette University - up 6
Western Michigan University - unchanged
Miami University - down 2
Ohio State University - down 4
Denison University - not ranked in Fall

When dealing with small numbers of regattas and wide variations in the number of participants, movement up or down is a bit subjective. Because the rankings are in part participation based, ranking positions are strongly influenced by the inclusion or exclusion of individual teams in prior rankings.

Comparison with Sail-World Coaches Poll

The only other independent ranking of MCSA teams that we are aware of is the Sail-World.com coaches pool. The most recent poll, released May 15, 2013 only places 6 teams:

1. Minnesota
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan
4. Northwestern
5. Ohio State
6. Dennison

Note that the above is only a ranking within the MCSA. Midwest teams (save for Wisconsin) rarely show up in Sail-World's national poll of collegiate teams. With regards to this regional ranking, the relative placement of Ohio State and Dennison is in common in both rankings, however positions 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 are flipped between the two (with Michigan being under Northwestern and Minnesota under Wisconsin in the SailMichigan rankings).

Unlike a coach's poll, one benefit of SailMichigan's performance-based ranking is the relative distribution of score values and how that can be used to cluster and evaluate similar programs. For example, in our ratings there is clear separation of Universities of Wisconsin and Minnesota from other "upper-tier" programs. These two programs are separated by 10 points from each other, and from the next tier. Contrast this with the next four; Northwestern, Michigan State, UW-Milwaukee and Michigan, which are all 4 within the same 10 point margin.

Obviously, the purpose of such rankings is not for fame, money, or necessarily bragging rights, but just as a region-specific barometer of relative competitiveness. Since the Midwest is generally overlooked by national polls and media, such regional analysis may actually be more informative.

Discussion, critique and analysis of any statements made above is welcomed.

Final Fall 2012 Midwest Collegiate Sailing Rankings

With the completion of the Timme-Angston Memorial regatta, the Fall MCSA conference sailing docket is nearly complete. Accordingly, SailMichigan has compiled the numbers from this Fall's results to provide the rankings below. Sixteen regattas were used in the evaluation (excluded were Team-Race regattas and gender-specific regattas). Overall, active MCSA teams sailed in an average of 4.3 of the evaluated regattas. Accordingly, 4 was the magic number for inclusion in these rankings. To be ranked, a given university/college must have competed in a minimum of 4 regattas. For those who had sailed in more than 4 evaluated regattas, only the top 4 performances were used in the calculations. Rankings as of Nov. 21, 2012:

Rank	University	Score
1	University of Michigan	12.2
2	University of Wisconsin	14.6
3	University of Minnesota	20.7
4	Northwestern University	35.8
5	Michigan State University	39.9
6	Purdue University	43.2
7	Ohio State University	46.4
8	Miami University	51.0
9	Western Michigan University	55.6
10	Bowling Green State University	57.2
11	University of Toledo	57.7
12	University of Notre Dame	58.8
13	Michigan Technological University	63.1
14	Marquette University	63.4
15	University of Illinois - Chicago	75.6
16	Hope College	122.6
17	Indiana University	141.7

There was a bit of shuffling in the top 5 since the previous rankings. Denison University was dropped from the rankings for not making the 4 regatta cut-off and University of Michigan appears at the top for the first time this year. This movement by Michigan is undoubtedly due to their strong performance in the Timme-Angston and the Timme Tune-up. Other big movers this cycle were Western Michigan (up 4), Purdue (up 3), Michigan State (up 2) and Ohio State (down 4). Although 3 schools (Denison, University of Akron, and Northern Michigan) left the rankings this cycle, only (Denison), could have influenced the above moves.

The latest Sailing World coaches poll (Nov. 21) did not include any MCSA team in the rankings. Although the rankings above are not affiliated or endorsed by the ICSA/MCSA, SailMichigan provides these rankings to generate interest in Midwest collegiate sailing and to serve as a starting point for discussion. If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to contribute them below or on the SailMichigan forum.

Midwest Collegiate Sailing Rankings - October 2012

Well into the Fall season with 14 regattas run, the SailMichigan Midwest college rankings for October are listed below. The data set for these rankings included 14 divisional regattas through the Boudeman Cup, but excluded gender specific (Men's only and Women's only) races. Also included in the rankings were the MCSA Match Race and the MCSA Sloop Championship. MCSA active teams participated in an average of 3.4 regattas per university. Accordingly, only colleges/universities participating in a minimum of 3 regattas are included in the rankings. Likewise, for those colleges/universities participating in more than three regattas, only their three best finishes were used for ranking purposes. These adjustments result in the inclusion of new teams this month and the removal of a couple who did not meet the three regatta threshold.

Rank	University	Rank Score
1	University of Wisconsin	19.0
2	University of Minnesota	27.5
3	Ohio State University	33.0
4	Northwestern University	36.2
5	Denison University	36.5
6	University of Michigan	38.1
7	Michigan State University	38.3
8	Miami University	48.2
9	Purdue University	50.4
10	University of Toledo	51.3
11	University Notre Dame	51.7
12	Bowling Green State University	60.0
13	Western Michigan University	64.1
14	Michigan Technological University	65.6
15	Marquette University	75.3
16	University of Illinois-Chicago	79.2
17	University of Akron	94.8
18	Northern Michigan University	105.9
19	Hope College	117.1
20	Indiana University	122.2

Although scoring numbers are tight, there appears to be three groupings within the rankings (a top 7, a middle 7 and a bottom 6). Denison University moves into the top 7 as University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is removed due to not making the three regatta minimum. Several teams moved up into the middle 7 this month and include Bowling Green and University of Toledo. Western Michigan and Michigan Tech. debut in this middle 7 tier this month. Approximately 4 more divisional regattas remain before the winter break. Disappointingly, as of Oct. 24, no MCSA teams have made it into the top 20 national rankings in the Sailing World's sailing coaches poll.

The above rankings are the property of SailMichigan.org and are not officially endorsed by the ICSA, MCSA or any collegiate team. Comments or suggestions on the ranking process, or the strength of college teams in general, would be appreciated.

Midwest Collegiate Sailing Rankings - September 2012

The Midwest collegiate sailing season got underway Labor Day weekend with 5 teams competing at the Boiler Cup hosted by Purdue University. As of September 30th, 9 regional regattas have been completed with 29 collegiate teams competing in an average of 2 events.  SailMichigan has taken regatta scores (as available through the Midwest Collegiate Sailing Associaton website) and applied a formula to rank colleges based on team performance. This ranking takes into consideration the breadth of regatta attendees and looks at the best performance of the college at a particular regatta (i.e. the best score from multiple teams from the same college). Since the average number of regattas attended for this cycle is 2, only colleges/universities competing in a minimum of 2 evaulated regattas are included in the ranking. For those colleges/universities competing in more than 2 regattas, only the highest/best two performances are used. The rankings for Sept. 2012 are as follows:

Rank	University	Weighted Rank Score
1	University of Wisconsin	12.8
2	University of Minnesota	25.6
3	Michigan State University	34.0
4	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee	37.8
5	University of Notre Dame	38.4
6	Northwestern University	40.4
7	Ohio State University	44.5
8	Denison University	44.8
9	Purdue University	47.8
10	University of Michigan	49.3
11	Miami University	67.9
12	Marquette University	71.3
13	University of Illinois-Chicago	71.9
14	University of Akron	97.2
15	University of Toledo	98.5
16	Hope College	106.2
17	Bowling Green State University	132.7
18	Indiana University	150.0

In comparison to our final rankings for Spring 2012, 7 of the top ten teams from Spring 2012 are currently represented in the top 10 above. However, only 2 of the Spring's top 5 (Wisconsin and Minnesota) are starting off the Fall in strong fashion (i.e. within the current top 5). As the teams become more active, the above rankings will likely change as more teams qualify for inclusion.
The above rankings are the property of SailMichigan and not officially endorsed by the ICSA, MCSA or any collegiate team. Comments or suggestions on the ranking process, or the strength of college teams in general, would be appreciated.