April 15, 2007
#19 WC 17th at Admiral's Cup; 2nd at UMBC Open

CHESTERTOWN, MD -- The 19th-ranked Washington College sailing team finished 17th of 20 schools at the Admiral's Cup, an intersectional regatta hosted by the United States Merchant Marine Academy, this weekend. Washington was second of 11 teams overall at the UMBC Open, a MAISA district regatta, this weekend.

At the Admiral's Cup, junior skipper Alex Hood (Newport, RI/Portsmouth Abbey) sailed with junior crew Shrijana Puri (Bethesda, MD/Bethesda-Chevy Chase) and sophomore crew Derek Packard (Excelsior, MN/Breck) to finish 16th in A Division. Freshman skipper Conner Blouin (Tampa, FL/Jesuit) sailed with freshman crew Krista Hankins (Bridgeton, NJ/Cumberland Regional) and junior crew Meredith Bluefeld (King of Prussia, PA/Upper Upper Merion) to finish 14th in B Division, while junior Meredith Dodd (Pittsburgh, PA/Upper St. Clair) was 16th in the single-handed C Division.

Third-ranked Yale won the Admiral's Cup, followed by top-ranked St. Mary's in second and second-ranked Hobart/William Smith in third. In all, 14 of the current ICSA/Sailing World Co-Ed Top 20 teams competed at the regatta. Saturday's races at the Admiral's Cup began in an 8-12 knot northwesterly wind which slowly died to 3-6 knots throughout the day. Sunday morning racing began in an extremely shifty northeasterly breeze at 5-15 knots. Racing continued on Sunday until a series of large wind shifts that caused delays. Racing was finally called at 1230 p.m. due to poor sailing conditions and heavy rain.

At the UMBC Open, freshman skipper Patrick Clancy (Scituate, MA/Boston College HS) and junior crew Tonie Domino (Crownsville, MD/Old Mill) won A Division, while freshman skipper Guy Tawney (Baltimore, MD/St. Paul's School) and freshman crew Genevieve Smith (Hampstead, MD/North Carroll) finished third in B Division. Clancy and Domino won five of the eight A Division races, while Tawney and Smith finished in the top four in six of the eight B Division races.

Fordham won the UMBC Open, while Navy finished third. Saturday's races started with bright sun and a 4-5 knot northwesterly breeze. As the day progressed, the breeze backed to the south and built to 9-11 knots. Heavy rain and sustained winds of 25 knots prevented any racing on Sunday.

Next weekend, the Washington College sailing team will compete at the MAISA Spring Women's Championships, hosted by Cornell, and at the Thompson Trophy, hosted by Coast Guard.