No. 6 Seahawks Advance to ICSA/Gill Coed National Championship
Boston, Mass. - The sixth-ranked St. Mary's College of Maryland coed sailing team finished third at the 2009 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Eastern Semifinals (May 2-3) hosted by MIT at Fan Pier in Boston to earn a spot in the ICSA/Gill Coed National Championship which will be hosted in San Francisco by Stanford University and the St. Francis Yacht Club from June 1-3, 2009.
The Eastern and Western Semifinals, sponsored by Marlow Ropes, PUMA, and US Sailing, qualified the top nine finishing schools from each semifinal into June's grand finale.
All eight schools from the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (MAISA), including St. Mary's, qualified for nationals as No. 2 Georgetown University captured the Eastern Semifinals with 77 points. In the Western Semifinals, No. 5 Yale University edged No. 1 Boston College for the title as Yale totaled 64 points and BC had 65.
No. 12 Tufts University outlasted the Seahawks as the Jumbos finished second with 84 points, while St. Mary's tallied 85 for third place.
Sophomore Michael Menninger (Newport Beach, Calif.) skippered the B division boat to a first-place finish with junior crew Kelly Wilbur (Ipswich, Mass.) as the Seahawks tallied 34 points, six points ahead of No. 3 Roger Williams' Cy Thompson and Kaytlin Hall.
In A division, junior skipper Jesse Kirkland (Warwick, Bermuda) finished fourth with sophomore crew Maddie Jackson (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) as the duo notched 51 points.
