George Washington University Athletics
Sailing Ranked 6th, 15th in Final Fall Rankings
11/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Sailing
Following the strongest fall season in program history, the George Washington sailing program received national accolades by appearing in the top 15 in both the women's and coed division of the final Sailing World College Rankings.
The women, who captured GW's first conference championship in October at the MAISA Women's Fall Dinghy, earned a sixth-place national ranking. In the coed poll, the Colonials, who recorded their highest-ever finish at a conference championship with a third-place result at the War Memorial Regatta in November, are ranked 15th.
GW also had strong showings at the ICSA Singlehanded Nationals, where freshman Sarah Alexander placed fourth for the best finish at a national event by a GW sailor. Fellow freshman Riley Legault was just behind Alexander in sixth place at that event, while junior Brendan Shanahan placed ninth for the second consecutive year.
"We did a great job this season of taking each regatta one step at a time, and it really showed in our solid results during the last month of competition," said head coach John Pearce. "Winning the MAISA Fall Women's Champs was a huge highlight, as was finishing third at the MAISA Fall Coed Champs. Both of those results show that we are one of the top teams in our conference right now, and our strong finishes at Singlehanded Nationals and the Atlantic Coast Championships are a good indication of where we fit in nationally. Overall we are happy to be nationally ranked going into the offseason, but we have to keep looking ahead and working hard to make sure we are as prepared as possible for the spring season."
The Colonials will open the spring season on March 5-6 by hosting the GW Team Race at the Washington Sailing Marina. The rest of the spring schedule will be released in December.
