Dec. 4, 2007
Washington, D.C. - The Georgetown University sailing teams combined returning players with talented newcomers to finish the fall season ranked No. 4 in the nation. Both the coed and women's teams entered the 2007 fall season ranked No. 10 in the nation.
On the coed side, GU returned All-Americans Chris Behm (Hampton, Va./Hampton Roads Academy) and Carly Chamberlain (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor) after graduating 10 seniors including All-Americans and starters, J.B. Turney and Caroline LaMotte.
The performances of freshmen Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor) and Evan Aras (Annapolis, Md./Severn School) immediately made an impression. Buckingham won his first singlehanded regatta and went on the win the conference Singlehanded Championship. Aras was equally impressive winning all his dinghy events, including the B Division at the Riley Cup and North/South Regatta with sophomore crew Caila Johnson (Newport, R.I./St. Paul's School), as well as the Laser South Qualifier. Joining Buckingham and Aras in the freshmen class were skippers Scott Furnary (Rye, N.Y./Rye Country Day) and Michael Campbell (San Diego, Calif./Bishops School) who won the A and B divisions respectively, at the Jesuit Cup.
Two talented crews also joined the Hoyas this fall. Virginia Cutler (New York, N.Y./Groton School), who won the A division at the Jesuit Cup, and Ashley Phillips (Charleston, S.C./Ashley Hall) who took first in the B division at the Senators Cup, both made immediate impacts on the team. With the freshmen performing so well, the pressure was on the upperclassmen to build on the team's successes.
The B division starting positions were won early by the team of senior Zack Kavanaugh (Dartmouth, Mass./Dartmouth) and sophomore Alexandra Taylor (Hobe Sound, Fla./The Benjamin School). Kavanaugh and Taylor had an impressive string of regattas to start the year with top-10 performances at the Anderson Trophy (6th), Nevins Trophy (2nd), Navy Fall (6th), and Danmark (7th).
Junior captain Nik Holtan (Larchmont, N.Y./Mamaroneck) also performed well this fall with top finishes at the Riley Cup and Tom Curtis Regatta. Sophomore skipper Marco Teixidor (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/St. John's School) had a very impressive fall season with top-10 performances at the Hood Trophy and North/South events, and asserted himself as perhaps the fastest sailor and most versatile sailor on the team after a standout performance at the War Memorial races.
The real leaders for the coed team remained the All-American duo of Behm and Chamberlain. After a mediocre start by their standards, the pair began to regain their top form and finished the year with a third place finish in the A division at the conference championship regatta (War Memorial) and winning the A division at the Coed Atlantic Coast Championship.
The coed team ended the season on a high note, finishing second at the Coed Conference Championship, third at the Coed Atlantic Coast Championship, and first at the Pacific Coast Fall Championship (North/South Regatta), while Buckingham posted a sixth place finish at the ICSA Single-handed National Championship.
The fall season for the Hoya women's team was equally as impressive. Georgetown returned three of its four starters from last year's squad losing only senior crew Emily Siguler.
The women's team was again led by three-time All-American skipper Blaire Herron (Coronado, Calif./Coronado). Herron teamed with talented crews Leigh Fogwell (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) and Brooke Crawford (Worth Palm Beach, Fla./St. George's School) to put together her best fall season of her career: The group brought home numerous top-five finishes in the A division and won the events at the Yale Women's race and Conference Championships.
Fantastic finishes are something the Hoyas have come to expect from Herron so it was the steady performance of B division sailors Emily Babbitt (Dartmouth, Mass./Bishop Stang) and Jamie Loeks (Rye, N.Y./Rye) that surprised and impressed their opponents and teammates alike. Babbitt and Loeks finished sixth in the B division at the Mrs. Hurst, Urn Trophy, Navy Fall Women's and Women's ACC's.
The women's team won the Fall Conference Championship knocking off No.1- ranked and defending national champion, St. Mary's (Ca.) College in the process and finished third overall at the Women's Atlantic Coast Championship.
The Hoyas fall Season officially ends with the Rose Bowl Regatta in Long Beach, California, January 5 and 6.
The 2008 spring season commences with the Charleston Spring Intersectional on February 16-17 and culminates with the Coed, Women's and Team Racing National Championships in Newport, Rhode Island at the end of May.
The Hoyas chances for more national championships will be bolstered by the returns of three of the most talented crews on the team: Andi Bailey (St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Island/Antilles School) (study abroad), Sprague Brodie (Duxbury, Mass./Milton Academy) (study abroad) and Zander Farkas (Cambridge, Mass./Belmont Hill) (injury).
