George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
War Memorial
GW Sailing Finishes Third at War Memorial Regatta
11/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Sailing
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Nov. 2, 2015
CORNELL, N.Y. -- On the heels of the program's first conference title a week ago at the MAISA Women's Fall Dinghy Championship, the George Washington sailing team again performed well by finishing third at the War Memorial Regatta on Sunday.
The regatta, which serves as the MAISA Coed Conference Championship, consisted of an 18-team field including six ranked teams. GW's third-place finish is its best in a coed conference championship.
"We were really only a few points behind the first- and second-place teams and had a really strong showing," said head coach John Pearce. "Saturday was light and kind of shifty winds so we didn't get many races in, but we coped well and kept ourselves in the game. Sunday the wind picked up as the day went on - it was very windy at the end of the day - and we were able to win the last A race and B race which helped us vault up from fifth or sixth to third. It was a credit to our technique, athleticism and ability to put together a couple good races when we needed to."
The Colonials' strong finish came with Brendan Shanahan skippering and Belle Strachan crewing the eighth and final Division A race, leading the Colonials to a win in that run. GW also won the final race in Division B, with skipper Kai Friesecke and crew Riley Legault steering the way.
GW showed off its depth in the regatta by using a total of seven sailors in the two divisions. In Division A, Shanahan skippered all eight races while Miranda Bakos crewed races 1-7 before Strachan took over in race 8. The trio led GW to six top-5 finishes in eight races and a second-place result in the division.
In Division B, skipper Andrew Sheerin and crew Henry Young took races 1-3 on Saturday before Friesecke and Legault took races 4-8 on Sunday. Friesecke and Legault finished second in their first two races on Sunday and then used their win in race 8 to grab a third-place result in the division.
The Colonials (90) were just four points behind second-place St. Mary's (86) and five behind champion Georgetown (85) in the final standings.
GW returns to competition next weekend with the ICSA Singlehanded National Championship which gets underway on Friday, Nov. 6.
Players Mentioned
