A wonderful week for Menninger siblings

Growing up a Menninger in Newport Beach most likely meant a life of sailing was in store. But such was not the case for Marla Menninger.

Her brother, Michael, one year younger, easily took to sailing, but Marla was different.

“I was really young,” Marla said. “I didn’t want to sail by myself and didn’t want to compete. I wasn’t that interested.”

That’s OK. Sailing was a family affair anyway in the Menninger home. Bill, the father, grew up a sailor. He started when he was 8 for the Los Angeles Yacht Club. Mary, the mother, likes to joke that she began sailing at six months old. But it’s true she was on a boat as a baby.

Sailing has always been prevalent for the Menningers.

Marla eventually immersed herself into sailing as an eighth-grader. Later, Michael and Marla would compete together for the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, sail together for fun and win together for Newport Harbor High.

They were at it again, together, this past week, but sailing for different universities at the Intercollegiate Sailing Assn. National Championship on the San Francisco Bay. It was quite a memorable week for the Menningers.

Marla competes as a junior for Yale, Michael’s a sophomore skipper at St. Mary’s of Maryland.

The ICSA National Championship consists of three classifications: women’s, team racing and co-ed. St. Mary’s won the ICSA/Gill Co-ed Dinghy National Championship and Yale won the women’s title.

The co-ed title featured an exciting finale that included Michael and Marla, sailing in different divisions, but still figuring into the results.

Sailing in the ‘A’ Division, Marla, alternating with sophomore Blair Belling, also from Newport Harbor, as crew for skipper Thomas Barrows posted enough wins to eliminate a seven-point lead St. Mary’s had over Yale when the day started.

But St. Mary’s later regained the lead. Then after another set of races, Yale moved back ahead, leaving the ‘B’ Division to determine the winner.

That’s when Michael and his crew posted the win and brought home the title for St. Mary’s.

“It was a pretty proud moment,” Bill Menninger said. “It was windy and it was really cold, but it was so exciting it kept you warm.”

Said Mary Menninger: “I was really proud of them for standing up to the pressure. There was a lot of pressure going into the end. They didn’t get nervous. They kept their cool and stepped up to the competition. That was very gratifying as a parent to see that.”

For the Menningers, winning championships goes hand in hand.

Michael is one of eight skippers to have won the Governor’s Cup, the international junior match racing event that completed its 42nd year last summer. He was also part of Newport Harbor’s high school national championship team in 2007. This year he was named an All-American.

“Michael is one six guys on our team who put together their best effort of the year at the right time,” St. Mary’s Coach Adam Werblow said. “And, Michael has been coming on for quite some time. He won the last major event of the spring at the Coast Guard Academy in late April and he won that by a lot. Then he won in Boston a week later. We knew he was going to be very strong in the national championship and we were awfully confident.”

Marla was named captain of the Yale women’s sailing team before this year began. There was a reason for that. She was an All-American last year, and she won the ‘A’ Division at the national championships with her partner, Jane Macky.

This year, she was named an All-American again, and won the women’s national title, as well as the ‘A’ Division in women’s and co-ed nationals.

“It just feels amazing,” she said. “We definitely put in the effort. We’ve just been trying really hard in every race and doing the best we can. It was great to have come out like this on top.”

The Menningers and Belling weren’t the only ones from Newport Harbor successful at the season-ending national championship regatta.

Georgetown sophomore Charlie Buckingham, who was also on that 2007 Newport Harbor national championship team, was named the Everett B. Morris College Sailor of the Year.

Must be something in the water.

Werblow noted Caleb Silsby, the coach of the Newport Harbor national championship team, also went to St. Mary’s and was part of its last ICSA National Championship team in 2002.

“Obviously that Newport Harbor team was pretty good,” Werblow said. “There’s a reason they won [the high school national championship].”