George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
MAISA Men's Singlehanded Carl Van Duyne Trophy
GW Sailing Posts Strong Results at Several Regattas
10/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Sailing
 |  | Follow @GW_Sailing |
Oct. 12, 2015
The George Washington sailing team had a pair of strong results last weekend as junior Brendan Shanahan qualified for the ICSA Singlehanded National Championship and the Colonials earned a third-place finish at the Navy Fall Women's Intercollegiate.
Racing at the MAISA Men's Singlehanded Championship, where the top four finishers are awarded spots at nationals, Shanahan was able to hold off former national champion Greg Martinez of Georgetown for fourth place. The junior won two of the first six races and had three second-place finishes, but was tied with Martinez heading into the 13th and final race. In that run, Shanahan finished third while Martinez was sixth, giving Shanahan the qualifying spot for nationals.
"Brendan was right in the hunt the entire time, always somewhere between third and sixth as the regatta was unfolding," said head coach John Pearce. "He did a great job of keeping himself in it through some tough races and then coming back at the end and having a great last few races to secure a spot for nationals."
The Colonials missed out on a second qualifier for nationals as junior Daniel DelBello finished 15th.
At the Navy Fall Women's Intercollegiate, GW raced to a third-place finish, which is the best in program history at a major inter-conference regatta. The Colonials, ranked No. 10 in the nation, were behind only No. 5 Georgetown and No. 7 St. Mary's College of Maryland in the standings, while finishing ahead of a host of ranked teams in No. 2 Yale, No. 9 Stanford, No. 11 South Florida and No. 12 College of Charleston.
Leading GW was freshman Riley Legault who secured a third-place finish in Division C. In 10 races, Legault had three first-place finishes and four more in the top five to finish behind boats from Brown and Georgetown. Sophomores India Johnstone and Kia Olsson and junior Gabriella Malek combined for a seventh-place finish in Division A. Senior Maria Sinagra and sophomores Miranda Bakos and Isabel Strachan teamed up for a seventh-place finish in Division B.
"We beat a lot of really good teams that are in the national rankings and showed we deserve the No. 10 national ranking," said Coach Pearce. "We're just going to keep getting better from there. The highlight there was Riley Legault, who sailed a fantastic regatta from start to finish."
GW was represented by skipper Riley Engelberger and crew Matt Homa in A Division and skipper Hannah McNomee and crew Madison Oleson in B Division at the Tom Curtis Memorial Regatta at Georgetown and earned a second-place finish in a regional field of nine teams.
At the Moody Trophy at the University of Rhode Island, the fourth different competition of the weekend for GW, a slow-paced regatta with a lack of wind contributed to the Colonials failing to get into a groove en route to a 16th-place finish.
GW returns to the water this weekend with a trio of regattas that get underway on Saturday.
Players Mentioned
