September 27, 2009
#16 WC 4th at SMC Open, 13th at North Fall #1
Blouin Posts 11th Career First-Place Divisional Finish

CHESTERTOWN, MD -- Senior skipper Conner Blouin (Tampa, FL/Jesuit) and freshman crew Matt Lawler (Alexandria, VA/Christchurch School) won A Division for the second straight weekend to lead the 16th-ranked Washington College sailing team to a fourth-place finish out of 18 teams at the SMC Open for the Senator's Cup this weekend at St. Mary's College. Washington was also represented at Hobart/William Smith's North Fall #1 this weekend, finishing 13th of 16 teams.

Blouin and Lawler finished in the top five in 12 of the 14 A Division races at the SMC Open, winning five of them. The first-place divisional finish was the 11th of Blouin's collegiate career. Sophomore skipper Mildred Conroy (Newton, MA/Tabor Academy) and junior crew Caroline Hill (Tiverton, RI/Bishop Stang, MA) were sixth in B Division with their highest single-race finish in the 11th race, in which they placed third.

Sixth-ranked St. Mary's won the SMC Open, followed by second-ranked Georgetown in second and 11th-ranked Hobart/William Smith in third. Winds were from the west all weekend with morning rain during Sunday's races.

At the North Fall #1, freshman skipper Amanda Anastasia (Boston, MA/Boston Latin School) and senior crew Genevieve Smith (Hampstead, MD/North Carroll) were 14th in A Divison, while freshman skipper Sam Bedinger (Richmond, VA/St. Christopher's) and junior crew Max Kurland (Sharon, CT/Hotchkiss School) placed 10th in B Division. Bedinger was making his collegiate sailing debut.

Eleventh-ranked Hobart/William Smith won the North Fall #1, followed by New York Maritime in second and Fordham in third. Saturday began with 20 mile-per-hour winds from the south as no races were completed until the afternoon, when four were finished in south winds around 15 miles per hour. Sunday's races were sailed in south winds starting around 15 miles per hour and diminishing all day. A total of seven races sailed in each division at the regatta.

Next weekend, the Washington College sailing team is scheduled to compete at Coast Guard's Danmark Trophy and Cornell's Finger Lakes Women's Intersectional.