FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jan Harley, Media Pro Int'l, 401-849-0220 or Simon Whitaker, College of Charleston, 843-953-5465 (onsite)
College of Charleston Wins 2006 ICSA National Women's Dinghy Championship Charleston, South Carolina (May 26, 2006) - Working their "home-court" advantage, the College of Charleston women sailors kept their heads down for the final day of racing at the 2006 ISCA National Women's Dinghy Championship. The payoff for three days of consistent sailing - a first-ever win of this championship crown. The best collegiate women sailors in the nation were hosted by the Cougars at their J. Stewart Walker Jr. Sailing Center where 36 races were run (18 apiece for both A and B-Divisions) on the Cooper River. Only four races for each division remained to complete the championship series today, but by mid-morning a lack of wind stopped the clock after two races had been sailed by A-Division. The sailors were held on the dock for just over an hour until the arrival of a southwest breeze of 10-13 knots that built to 16-18 as the afternoon progressed. College of Charleston was able to break away from the pack and hold off several assaults courtesy of seniors Alana O'Reilly (Charleston) and Susan Lintern (Kirtland Hills, Ohio) who took over the lead in A-Division on day two. In B-Division, freshman Andrea Savage (Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.) with sophomore crew Danielle Neri (Newport, R.I.), came back from a 16th place finish in Thursday's last race to win their first race of the final four today. The Cougars finished the series with 207 points - a 42 point lead over Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) who finished in second place. "Although they are used to the current, this is the first time our team has seen sea breeze all semester," said George Wood, Head Sailing Coach for College of Charleston. "And all but four or five races had sea breeze." Wood and his coaching team are celebrating the first ICSA National Women's Dinghy Championship for the Cougars, bringing to 13 the number of national sailing championships the school has won. Georgetown University saw the biggest gain on the final day as they moved up three spots to claim second in the overall standings with 249 points. Freshman Blaire Herron (Coronado, Calif.), with sophomore Carly Chamberlain (Newport Beach, Calif.), won the two final races in A-Division, that was combined with the strong performance of seniors Derby Anderson (Annapolis, Md.) and Jackie Schmitz (McLean, Va.) in B-Division. (A team's final score is determined by the combined results of its sailors in A and B divisions.) Maintaining their day two positions, St. Mary's College placed third with 258 points, followed by Stanford University in fourth overall with 259 points. Dartmouth College gained one slot to place fifth overall with 280 points. The Quantum Female College Sailor of the Year will be announced at the awards banquet on Friday evening, May 26. Next up is the ICSA/Layline National Team Race Championship (May 28-30), followed by the ICSA/Gill National Coed Dinghy Championship (May 31-June 2). Additional information on the 2006 ICSA National Championships, including complete results and photos by Glennon Stratton can be found on the event website: http://collegesailing.org/nas/spring06/ <BLOCKED::http://collegesailing.org/nas/spring06/> To learn more about ICSA, visit www.collegesailing.org <BLOCKED::http://www.collegesailing.org/> . For additional information on the sponsors of the national championships, please visit them online: www.gillna.com <BLOCKED::http://www.gillna.com/> , www.layline.com <BLOCKED::http://www.layline.com/> , www.quantumsails.com <BLOCKED::http://www.quantumsails.com/> and www.teamvanguard.com <BLOCKED::http://www.teamvanguard.com/> . -end- ________________________________________________ icsa mailing list [email protected] http://www.collegesailing.org/mailman/?listname=icsa
