Special to The Hoya Tuesday, September 19, 2006
The winds were light this weekend, but Georgetown was still a force on the water. With second-place finishes in both the Nevins Trophy and the Mrs. Hurst Bowl, the Georgetown University sailing team demonstrated both individual accomplishment and team cohesiveness on the men’s and women’s sides. For the second time in two weekends, junior Chris Behm and sophomore Carly Chamberlain showed their dominance in the A division, with a victory at the Nevins Trophy at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y. “No one has won the A division first two regattas of the year in a long time,” Head Coach Mike Callahan (SFS ’97) said. “It’s a good judge of where we are talent-wise, because Chris and Carly are winning every race in practice. They’re also beating everyone in college.” Unlike last weekend’s disappointing 15th-place B division finish, the Hoyas landed fourth place in that class this week, trailing just six points behind the winners. “This weekend they did much better,” Callahan said of seniors J.B. Turney and Caroline LaMotte. Callahan added that Turney took the place of junior Zack Kavanaugh, who is unable to compete because of two broken bones. The women’s team also secured second place finish this weekend, topping 16 other squads in the Mrs. Hurst Bowl at Dartmouth College. Senior Emily Siguler and junior Blaire Herron came in second after Harvard in the A division, once again showing the strength of Georgetown sailing’s A squads. Freshmen Christine Burke and Calia Johnson finished third in their competition. Callahan said he expects Burke and Johnson are “only going to get better.” Though the team’s depth seemed questionable after Georgetown’s first weekend on the water, demonstrated by its fall from first to 12th in the national rankings, the results of the Mrs. Hurst Bowl and the Nevins Trophy reflected a stronger squad. Callahan predicted that the team could move into the top 10 or top five with this weekend’s results. The mild weather may have played to the Hoyas’ advantage. Accustomed to practicing on the still Potomac River, Georgetown performed nicely in the five to eight knot winds in New York and New Hampshire on Saturday and Sunday. “There wasn’t a lot of wind, and certain teams do well when it’s light. These conditions were more suited to us than to other teams,” Callahan said. All factors considered, Georgetown’s results in Nevins and Mrs. Hurst were a solid display of the team’s potential. The sailors will compete in a number of other regattas this fall that will give them a better sense of the top 20 teams, Callahan explained. “It’s only September and still a long way from Nationals in June,” he said. The team hopes to continue its success on the water next week as it competes in the Jesuit Cup in Bronx, N.Y., Senators Cup in St. Mary’s City, d., and the Laser South Qualifiers in Annapolis, Md.