Thanks to a strong final-day comeback, Georgetown has captured a sailing national title, its second in three years and third overall. This is the Hoyas’ first fleet racing championship.

“We are totally thrilled about this,” Head Coach Michael Callahan said in a press release. “Words can’t describe how happy we are.”

Led by a B Division boat that blew away its competition, the Hoyas secured the ICSA Gill Dinghy National Champions, a coed competition held in Newport, R.I., that began Monday and was comprised of 18 races in both the A and B divisions.

Freshman Charlie Buckingham and sophomore Alex Taylor finished first five times and second twice and accumulated just 97 points. Boston College was a distant second, 26 points behind.

The A division boat, manned for most races by senior Chris Behm and junior Carly Chamberlain, finished fifth but was just eight points off the lead. Sophomore Marco Teixidor subbed in for Chamberlain for races 16 and 17. Chamberlain joins soon-to-be Olympian Andrew Campbell (SFS ’06) as one of the most successful sailors – and athletes – in Georgetown history, having been a part of the squad that won the 2006 ICSA Team Race National Championship.

The Hoyas found themselves in second place entering today’s action, which featured pouring rains, 17 points behind the Eagles. They closed the gap to eight after BC’s A boat stumbled to an 18th place finish in the day’s first race and overtook the top spot in the next competition when Georgetown’s B boat finished first (the A boat was 12th) and Boston College’s two boats recorded 17th and 11th place marks. St. Mary’s ended up finishing second overall, while BC was third.

“We’ve finished this race in second place twice before,” Callahan said in the release. “The kids had a certain confidence about them today. They never backed off and finished strong.”

Check back to www.thehoya.com for full, in-depth coverage of the Hoyas’ latest triumph.

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