Cougars Earn Two Runner-Up Finishes in Sailing

CHARLESTON, SC March 10, 2013 - The College of Charleston sailing program had a successful weekend as they competed at four weekend regattas and finished second-place in two of the competitions.

The Cougars competed in the John Jackson Memorial Team Race and St. Mary’s Team Race as well as the Port of LA Harbor Cup and the Navy Spring Women’s Intersectional.

The Cougars entered this weekend’s competition with their highest national rankings of the season as they claimed sole possession of No. 1 in the latest college coed rankings, presented by Sperry Top-Sider on March 6. They received 18 first-place votes and previously shared the top spot with No. 2-ranked Georgetown on Feb. 20.

In the John Jackson Memorial Race hosted by Georgetown, the Cougars finished in second-place with a 7-3 record. Stanford won the competition with a 9-1 record. The Cougar skippers included Christopher Banholzer (Hartland, Wis.), Nick Johnstone (Newport, R.I.) and Jake Reynolds (San Diego, Calif.). The crew included Tierney Driscoll (Bayport, N.Y.), Emily Stuart (Riverside, R.I.) and Katie Dowling Coronado, Calif.).

In the Port of LA Harbor Cup, hosted by Cal Maritime the Cougars also finished in second-place only behind host California Maritime Academy. In the final race on Sunday, CofC passed SUNY Maritime on the last downwind leg to secure the second-place finish.

The Cougars also competed in the Navy Spring Women’s Intersectional Regatta, where the team finished in seventh-place out of 20 schools.

The fourth competition of the weekend was the St. Mary’s Team Race hosted by St. Mary’s. In a strong field of 10 teams the Cougars finished in sixth-place. The skippers for CofC were Mac Mace (Newport Beach, Calif.), Ben Spector (Santa Clarita, Calif.) and Juan Maegli (Guatemala City, Guatemala). The crew included Corinna DeCallibus (Duxbury, Mass.), Alicia Blumenthal (Bellport, N.Y.) and Septima McAdams (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.).

Next weekend the Cougars will compete in three regattas with the Truxton Umsted in Annapolis, Md., the St. Mary’s Women’s Intersectional in St. Mary’s City, Md. and the North Points #4 in Atlanta, Ga.