Sailors Dowd, Janzen Named to NEISA's Rookie of the Year Watch Lists

MEDFORD, MA (February 6, 2026) - Following a promising fall season on the water, the Tufts University sailing team had two skippers named today to the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) Rookie of the Year Watch Lists.

Tufts co-ed team freshman skipper Pearse Down is one of five sailors named to the NEISA Open Rookie of the Year Watch List. Women's first-year skipper Maddie Janzen is among three on the NEISA Women's Rookie of the Year Watch List.

Following the fall season, the NEISA Awards Committee identified the top contenders for the organization's six major awards which includes Rookie of the Year. Award winners will be announced at the conclusion of the New England collegiate sailing season.

Dowd's role as a Jumbo first-team starter increased as the fall season went on. At the Schell Trophy - the fall New England Championship which capped the semester - he skippered Tufts to a sixth-place finish in B division. Tufts' seventh-place overall finish at the regatta was its best since 2021. Among other achievements as skipper of Tufts' B team, Dowd was third at the Atlantic Coast Tournament finals and fifth at Dartmouth's Captain Hurst Bowl. He was first in the one-division Mystic Lake Invite among 21 teams early in the fall season.

Janzen made an immediate impact as Tufts' first-team starter in B division. She was second out of 17 teams in her collegiate debut at MIT's Toni Deutsch Trophy on September 6-7. Four of her six starts during the fall season would result in top-three B finishes, including another second at Dartmouth's Mrs. Hurst Bowl. Her fifth-place B division score at the Victorian Urn Trophy (Fall New England Championship) helped the Jumbos to a fifth-place finish overall at the regatta that was their best in 12 years.

Dowd, Janzen and the rest of head coach Johnny Norfleet's Jumbos will return to action for the spring season in March.