Sailing Finishes 8th at War Memorial

Saturday, October 27

Annapolis, MD

All Day

George Washington University

War Memorial (MAISA Coed Championships)

10/29/2018 5:40:00 PM | Sailing

The Colonials closed their coed season by finishing in the top half of the field at their conference championship

The GW sailing team closed its fall coed season last weekend by placing eighth among an 18-team field at the War Memorial hosted by Navy.

In what serves as the MAISA Conference Championship, GW overcame a slow start to claim eighth place thanks to a balanced effort with 10 sailors contributing to the result. In A Division, seniors Andrew Sheerin and Derek Poon-Tip along with crews Tanner Chapko, Connor West and Zach Lehan led the Colonials to an eighth-place finish. GW also took eighth in B Division with skippers Wade Wagner and Matt Logue, and crews Sarah Noyes, Andreea Ranney-Pace and Michael Houllahan.

"We started off a little slow in B Division but we made some substitutions and Matt Logue steadied our score line to improve our position throughout the weekend," said head coach Billy Martin. "In A Division we sailed really strong. The breeze kicked up in the afternoon on Saturday and we had Derek Poon-Tip come in, and he got a really great score line. Tanner Chapko was really good throughout as well."

GW, which graduated two starters from last season's team that took third at the War Memorial, now heads into the spring season with depth and experience.

"The team really worked hard and started hitting its stride despite a slow start," said Martin. "It's going to be a fun spring with this coed team trying to put it all together and figure out our best combinations. We have plenty of talent. We brought 10 sailors and all of them sailed. Plenty of people can compete at a high level and that's going to be even more important in the spring."

GW has one event remaining on its fall schedule, the ICSA Singlehanded National Championship from Nov. 3-4 in Holland, Michigan. For the fourth consecutive season, senior Riley Legault will compete for the Colonials.