Sailing Season Preview

CHESTERTOWN, MD -- Coming off three consecutive berths in the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Co-Ed Dinghy National Semifinals, the Washington College sailing team returns six sailors from last year's team, including five of the six who sailed at last year's national semifinals.

Despite that, it would be easy to focus on who is not back with the team this year. Two-time All-America honorable mention Conner Blouin graduated in May with a school-record 12 first-place divisional finishes. Still, with a strong core of sailors and an influx of freshmen, Washington College should once again rank as one of the top collegiate sailing programs in the country.

Junior Mike Whitford (Chicago, IL/Francis W. Parker School) is the team's most accomplished returning skipper. Whitford skippered WC to third-place finishes in B Division at a pair of intersectionals last spring - the Eckerd Intersectional and the Boston Dinghy Cup. He also skippered the team to a sixth-place finish at the America Trophy - the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (MAISA) Spring Championships - and a 14th-place finish in B Division at the ICSA Co-Ed Dinghy Eastern Semifinal.

Senior captain Caroline Hill (Tiverton, RI/Bishop Stang) sailed, as a crew, with Whitford most of last year, joining him in those top three finishes at Eckerd and in Boston and the sixth-place finish at the America Trophy. She split time with junior Mildred Conroy (Newton, MA/Tabor Academy) as the B Division crew at the ICSA Semifinal.

Conroy also sees time as a skipper, driving a sixth-place B Division finish at last year's St. Mary's Open and a second-place B Division finish at the Washington College Open her freshman year.

Sophomore Matt Lawler (Alexandria, VA/Christchurch) and senior Max Kurland (Sharon, CT/Hotchkiss School) both sailed as A Division crews with Blouin as the skipper at last year's ICSA Semifinal, helping WC to a ninth-place finish in that division. Lawler had an impressive freshman season, turning in first-place A Division finishes at the Ocean County Fall Open, St. Mary's Open, and Eckerd Intersectional. He also crewed select races in WC's third-place A Division finish at the War Memorial - the MAISA Fall Championship - which was the team's best-ever A Division finish at that regatta, and in WC's sixth-place A Division finish at the America Trophy.

Kurland, who transferred from the College of Charleston following his sophomore year, saw action as a crew in last year's second-place A Division finish at the Hobart/William Smith Fall Intersectional, last year's third-place A Division finish at the War Memorial, and last year's sixth-place A Division finish at the America Trophy. He can also serve as a skipper.

Sophomore skipper Sam Bedinger (Richmond, VA/St. Christopher's) was named the team's Most Improved Sailor last year. He competed in four events, with his best finish coming at the Kings Point Dinghy Open where he skippered WC to ninth in B Division.

There are currently six freshmen on Washington College's roster - skippers Hadley Burnham (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury), Kurt Eckhardt (Cumberland, ME/Greely), Colum McCurdy (West Sayville, NY/Sayville), and Chris Menke (Trappe, MD/Sts. Peter & Paul) and crews Sam Fitzgerald (Fairfield, CT/Green Farms Academy) and PJ Miller (Lawrenceville, NJ/Notre Dame). Burnham turned in a first-place finish at the 2009 NESSA Women's Invitational (Herreshoff Trophy), while Fitzgerald sailed for a state championship team at Green Farms Academy.

Second-year head coach Josh Putnam will take his sailors to Yale University this weekend as Washington College opens the fall season at the Anderson Trophy. WC finished fifth at that regatta last season. The following weekend, Washington will compete at the Central Fall #1, hosted by Ocean County College, one of two qualifiers for the War Memorial. (The other is Washington's lone home regatta of the fall, the Washington College Open, to be held October 16th and 17th.) This year's War Memorial is scheduled for October 30th and 31st at Hobart/William Smith.

The Washington College sailing team was not ranked among Sailing World's Preseason Co-Ed Top 20, but did receive 11 points in the poll. In addition to advancing to the last three ICSA Co-Ed Dinghy National Semifinals, Washington also advanced to the ICSA Co-Ed Dinghy National Championship regatta in 2009.