No. 7 St. Mary's Sailing Sixth at Navy Fall Intersectional

St. Mary's City, Md. – The seventh-ranked St. Mary's College of Maryland sailing team fared well at the Navy Fall Intersectional in Annapolis this weekend as the Seahawks finished sixth in the 18-team field.

The Seahawks had favorable winds all weekend long as 18 races were sailed in each of four divisions.  B division had the best outing for St. Mary's as junior skipper Victor Diaz de Leon (Lecheria, Venezuela) and the crew of senior Ben Lezin (Santa Cruz, Calif.), sophomores Fletcher Sims (Annapolis, Md.) and Kelley Merryman (Annapolis, Md.) and first-year Jacob LaDow claimed first-place in the division with 88 points after notching six top 2 finishes, including three first-place finishes.

Junior skipper Joshua Greenslade (Flatts, Smiths, Bermuda) notched a fifth-place finish in A division with the help of Lezin, Sims, and junior Lauren Schoene (Annapolis, Md.), totaling 144 points with six top 4 finishes.

The Seahawks also had a seventh-place finish in D division along with a ninth-place finish in C division.  First-year Catherine Shanahan (Tierra Verde, Fla.) and senior Gordy Lamphere (Lake Forest, Ill.) sailed the D division while sophomore skipper John Wallace (St. Petersburg, Fla.) competed in C.

Navy Fall Intersectional Regatta Conditions:
Saturday was a wild day on the Severn River for the first day of the 2011 Navy Fall Intersectional.  The wind was out of the southwest all day and a large trapezoid course was set off Triton Point in the mouth of the Severn River under sunny skies.  The wind started out in the mid teens but built up throughout the morning and gusts near 30 knots were seen midday.  The wind backed off into the high teens for the end of the day's racing.  The course was challenging as the sailors had to navigate through anchored boats in town for the powerboat show and deal with massive wind shifts.  Race management had its hands full all day dealing with numerous capsizes and breakdowns.  Twelve races were completed per division.

Sunday was another gorgeous day in Annapolis with sunny skies, temperatures around 70 degrees, and a nice southwesterly breeze at 8-15 knots.  The fleet left the dock early in the morning for six more races per division on a trapezoid course set off Triton Point in the mouth of the Severn River.  The wind was shifty again, making for another challenging day.  In total, 13 breakdowns were awarded, 5 boats were granted redress, two scoring discrepancies were corrected and one protest was heard, resulting in a DSQ. 

Other Regattas Sailed by St. Mary's
The Seahawks finished fourth out of 12 teams at the Central Fall #2 hosted by Washington College behind the efforts of first-year skipper Nicolas Clemence (Pewaukee, Wis.) and senior crew Marina Carlson (Easton, Mass.) in A division as they finished second with four first-place finishes.

Senior skipper Wick Dudley (Queenstown, Md.) and junior crew Katie Gluskin (Duxbury, Mass.) helped St. Mary's to a 19th-place finish at the Captain Hurst Bowl put on by Dartmouth University after taking 16th in B division.