Rain wreaks havoc on Sailing World Cup Miami
Rainy weather limited most classes of the Sailing World Cup Miami to one race Thursday in Biscayne Bay, but Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands made the most of it, posting her fifth win in six races to continue her dominance in Laser Radial.
Sailors from 64 countries in 12 fleets have another chance Friday to qualify for Saturday’s medal round.
Only the top 10 boats in each class advance. Many 2016 Summer Olympic team roster spots and country berths are at stake for 711 sailors.
Miami’s David Hughes paired with helmsman Stuart McNay in the men’s 470 to finish fifth and remain second overall in a tight battle with Spain.
In the Finn, Clearwater’s Zach Railey took second and is in second place, just one point ahead of Caleb Paine of San Diego. Railey’s sister Paige padded her lead over Fort Lauderdale’s Erika Reineke in the Laser Radial.
In men’s RS:X (boardsailing), Pedro Pascual of West Palm Beach is the top American, in 25th place. He is 14 points behind Canada and must finish ahead of Canada and Aruba (32nd place) to earn a slot for the U.S. in this summer’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The medal races, which count for double points, will be broadcast live starting at 11 a.m. Saturday on ESPN3.
LINDA ROBERTSON
baseball
The University of Miami continued to build preseason momentum, checking in at No. 6 in the USA TODAY Sports baseball preseason coaches’ poll.
The Hurricanes were ranked No. 4 in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s Top 25 released in December, marking Miami’s highest preseason ranking from that publication since 2005.
Miami was also ranked No. 6 by D1Baseball.com in its first Top 25 released in early January.
The Hurricanes’ Baseball America preseason ranking of No. 6 released earlier this week is its highest since 2007.
football
FIU announced that its 2016 season opener against Indiana at Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium has been moved to Thursday, Sept. 1, from its originally scheduled date of Saturday, Sept. 3.
“We wanted to ensure that our game would not affect the long Labor Day weekend for our fans and student body,” FIU executive director of sports and entertainment Pete Garcia said.
“We also wanted to make sure that this game was not subject to an early afternoon kickoff due to TV. The heat and humidity of South Florida, at that time of the day, in September makes it very difficult for our fans and student-athletes. I want to thank Indiana for agreeing to this schedule change.”
“It’s nice to open the season up on a Thursday night,” coach Ron Turner said.
“It should be a great environment for both our student-athletes and fans. Our guys look forward to playing on Thursday night and the spotlight it produces, nationally. Plus, it will give us a couple of extra days to prepare for the following week.”
This year’s contest versus Indiana will mark the second of a four-game series with the Hoosiers. FIU and Indiana are scheduled to square off on Sept. 16, 2017, in Bloomington, Indiana, and return to Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium on Sept. 1, 2018.
For FIU football ticket information, contact the University Credit Union Box Office at 305-FIU-GAME (348-4263).
This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 11:07 PM with the headline "Rain wreaks havoc on Sailing World Cup Miami."