April 14, 2008

Washington, D.C. - The Georgetown University sailing team upsets No. 1 St. Mary's to win their conference fleet racing championship (America Trophy) for the second year in a row. Sailing at Hobart and William Smith college in Geneva, N.Y. the Hoyas arguably sailed their best regatta of the year. With the MAISA conference championship and a trip to the National Semifinals on the line the Hoyas led 28 race regattas from start to finish.

In A division the All-American duo of Chris Behm and Carly Chamberlain put on a clinic winning a lot of races and only finishing out of the top five twice in 14 races. Behm and Chamberlain (Marco Teixidor subbed in for Chamberlain for four races) won A division by 18 points. In B division Charlie Buckingham (Zack Kavanaugh sailed races 1-2) and Alex Taylor sailed their best regatta of the year en route to second-place in B division. With two races left in the regatta and St. Mary's closing in, Buckingham and Taylor passed St. Mary's on the second leg of the race and covered them until the finish ensuring the victory before the last race started.

By virtue of winning the America Trophy the Hoyas are the No. 1 seed in the West Region Semifinals held in Long Beach, Calif. on April 26-27. If the Hoyas finish in the top nine at the semifinals they will qualify for the National Championship. Other teams in the West regatta include Yale, Charleston, MIT, Old Dominion, Brown and Hawaii.

Top 5
1. Georgetown (118)
2. St Mary's (139)
3. NY Maritime (162)
3. HWS (162)
5. Kings Point (185)

This weekend the women's team gets their chance to qualify for the Women's National Championship. The Hoyas need to finish in the top four at the conference championship to qualify. The coed team will be sailing at three regattas: Admirals Cup at Kings Point, Thompson Trophy at Connecticut College and the MAISA Open at New York Maritime.