George Washington University Athletics
Sailing Takes Eighth at Coed Nationals
6/1/2018 12:00:00 AM | Sailing
NORFOLK, Va. -- The George Washington sailing team capped its 2017-18 season on Friday with a program-best eighth-place finish at Coed Nationals in Norfolk, Virginia.
The Colonials made a notable improvement on last year's 12th place finish at coed nationals behind the sailing of Kai Fresecke, Andreea Ranney-Pace, Miranda Bakos, Matt Homa, and Andrew Sheerin. The quintet led GW to its third consecutive coed final appearance and highest finish in program history.
"Nationals is always such an extremely tough event and really doesn't compare to any other event all year," said head coach Billy Martin. "To show up and put up a great performance like this, and finish eighth, is extremely special. There are a lot of really great sailors that end up last at this event, but we fought at every point and definitely deserve this eighth-place finish. It just really goes to show how much grit this team has and how determined and good they were this year."
Leading the way in A Division was Friesecke, Ranney-Pace, and Bakos, who finished eighth on the day with three top-three finishes and only four results outside the top half of the field.
"Kai, Andreea, and Miranda sailed an unbelievable series in A Division," said Martin. "A lot of great senior leadership there, and leadership in general, and they really outdid themselves. I'm really proud of them for that."
Sheerin, Homa and Bakos helped pave the way with an 11th place showing in B Division, holding steady from Thursday. The Colonials finished in the top half of the field in seven races and had their highest finish of second-place in their first race of the day.
"For Sheerin and Homa, this was their first nationals start, and they did an ubelievable job in B Division," said Martin. "This was probably the toughest B Division I've seen ever at this event and they fought through every point to the last race. I'm so incredibly proud of them."
Friesecke also earned All-America honors for the second year in a row as GW finished the season with a third top-15 national finish, having taken eighth at Team Race Nationals and 12th at Women's Nationals.
