Having qualified for the year-end America Trophy with a fourth-place finish in the southern qualifier at the Old Dominion University Open, the Georgetown coed sailing team has leapfrogged in the national rankings with a series of impressive performances. This past weekend, the Hoyas competed at three different events, finishing in the top five overall in each regatta. At the Truxton Umstead regatta the team finished in second place with 216 points to the winner’s, St. Mary’s College, 194 points. In sailing, as in golf, the lowest score finishes first. Georgetown was in a position to take the title, but windy conditions caused the cancellation of the final events on Sunday and the disqualification of other events, keeping the Hoyas from slipping past St. Mary’s for the win. The “A” division team with senior and co-captain Tyler Haskell as the skipper finished in fourth in its group with 63 points. His crew was made up of seniors Emilie Lincoln and Chris Harvey along with sophomore Kyle Bergeron. The “B” division team finished in fifth with 66 points. Senior Thatcher Spring was the skipper with sophomore Kati Ferriss, Bergeron and Harvey comprising her crew. Sophomore Andrew Campbell won the truncated “C” division races with 22 points after 10 races and seniors skipper Bill Jorch and crew Derek Webster finished seventh in the “D” division with 65 points.

Georgetown sent two boats to the St. Mary’s Women’s Intersectional at St. Mary’s College in Lexington Park, Md., and returned with a fifth-place finish while competing against nine of the top 15 women’s teams in the nation. Harvard won the regatta with 81 points, but Georgetown’s 120 put them squarely in fifth, 14 points ahead of Stanford and eight points behind Old Dominion. As in the regatta upstream in Annapolis, this event was shortened because of high winds. In the races which ran, sophomore skipper Derby Anderson and junior crew Barbara Hall finished in third in the “A” division with 57 points and senior skipper Eliza Ryan and freshman crew Emily Siguler finished in sixth in the “B” division with 63 points. The Georgetown women’s team currently rests in sixth place in the Sailing World College Rankings for women’s teams. The Hoyas had moved up from ninth place in the previous poll. The women beat two teams ahead of them at the regatta: No. 4 Dartmouth and No. 5 Navy.

In the final regatta of the weekend, Georgetown finished in third at the Ocean County College in Toms River, N.J. with a young team composed of two freshmen, one sophomore and one junior. The team finished with a combined 108 points, seven behind runner-up Ocean County College. Junior skipper Chris Gosselin and freshman crew Mary McAuley finished in third in the “A” division with 57 points while freshman skipper Jessica Stewart and sophomore crew Katherine Wade took the runner-up spot in the “B” division with 51 points.

The Georgetown coed team has climbed up to third place in the Sailing Word College Rankings. They sit behind No. 2 St. ary’s College and top-ranked Harvard. They have moved up from fifth place in the previous ranking. The team competes in four regattas over the next weekend: the Southern New England Team Race at Connecticut College, the Owen Trophy at Brown, the MAISA/SAISA regatta at Hampton College and a Team Race Challenge with the Navy playing host.

– Michael Grendell

The Georgetown men’s rugby team will vie for the regional title for the second straight year this weekend as they play in the id-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) Division II Final Four. The Hoyas reached the Final Four by defeating the Temple Owls 29-12 this Saturday in Philadelphia.

In the win, junior outside center Greg Suellentrop led the team in scoring with 10 points coming off two tries. Suellentrop was the team’s second leading scorer in the fall season. Seniors prop Dan O’Toole and lock Matt Knox and junior fullback Ben Purcell each chipped in with one try. Junior flyhalf Jake Ludwigson scored four points off two conversions.

This weekend Georgetown will meet the 2003 Division II National Champion Radford Highlanders in the semifinals of the Final Four. The Hoyas will look to reach the MARFU Championship Game after losing in the semifinals last season to Virginia, 28-12. Virginia ultimately lost to Radford in the MARFU Championship, and the Highlanders went on to win the National Championship at the USA Rugby National Championships.

The victory over Temple improved Georgetown’s record versus teams from Pennsylvania – Villanova, West Chester, Kutztown and Temple- to 4-0, and their record this spring to 8-0. The team won the New Orleans Tournament in February with two victories over Loyola of Chicago and a win against DePaul.

The MARFU encompasses three smaller unions-the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union (EPRU), the Potomac Rugby Union (PRU) and the Virginia Rugby Union (VRU). Georgetown is a member of the PRU. This fall, Georgetown failed to defend its championship in the PRU Division II Championship Game to the Salisbury University Sea Gulls, 16-18.

– Nick Waters