April 9, 2002
Washington, D.C.-- The Georgetown University Sailing Team competed in two regattas this weekend, highlighted by a first place overall finish at the MAISA Team Race Championship. Hoya sailors won 12 races while losing only one over the course of the two-day event. Their success came despite adverse weather conditions, with bib waves and freezing temperatures on Saturday and dead winds on Sunday. Georgetown?s 12 and one record propelled the Hoya squad to the top of the eight-team field, making this the second year in a row that Georgetown has won the event. Crews consisting of seniors Melanie Wood (Skaneateles, N.Y./Skaneateles), Kat Penberthy (Rowayton, Conn./The Taft School), Leah Williams (South Dartmouth, Mass./Tabor Academy), Jeff Chang (Davidsonville, Md./South River), Alex Holtan (Larchmont, N.Y./Mamoroneck), Pete Frantz (New York, N.Y./St. Andrew?s), junior Shelly Wentworth (Centerville, Mass./Barnstable), sophomore Eliza Ryan (Marblehead, Mass./Marblehead), and freshman Barbara Hall (Marion, Mass./Tabor Academy) were led to victory by senior skippers Brian Bissell (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor), Curtis Flood (Richmond, Ky./St. George?s School), and Ken Ward (Tampa, Fla./The Hotchkiss School), as well as sophomore skipper Tyler Haskell (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor). Their first-place finish earned the Hoyas a berth at the ICSA Team Racing National Championship. Old Dominion University, which came in second place with nine wins and four losses, also qualified for the ICSAs, to be held from June 2 to June 4 at the University of Hawaii.
Meanwhile, another contingent of the Georgetown Sailing team took second place at the Maryland Spring Invite. Seniors Pat Donegan (Yarmouth Point, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth Regional) and Lindsay Bello (Rye, N.Y./Rye) finished with 48 points for second place in the A division, while senior Scott Driskel (Virginia Beach, Va./Norfolk Academy) and sophomore Paulina Szyrmer (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored 37 points in the B division, leaving them just one point out of first place. This gave Georgetown a total of 85 points, which was 15 points over the first place score from St. Mary?s College.
Georgetown Sailing has four regattas this coming weekend, namely the Admirals? Cup at King?s Point, the Moody Trophy at the University of Rhode Island, the New York Maritime Dinghy Open, and the Arrigan Regatta, which is hosted by Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
