Cougar Sailors Win 2011 Truxtun Umsted Regatta

Saturday, March 19

Mt. St. Mary's College, Md. - St. Mary's

All Day

College of Charleston

St. Mary's Women's (FJ)

Cougars Headed To ICSA Nationals, Host SAISA/MAISA Regatta

3/21/2011 2:02:00 AM | Sailing

By: CofCSports.com

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The third-ranked College of Charleston coed sailing team won the 2011 Truxtun Umsted Regatta hosted by the U.S. Naval Academy over the weekend on the Severn River.

The Cougars led the 19-team field after day one of competition on Saturday and continued to victory on Sunday with 386 points ahead of second-place Georgetown (414), host Navy (488), Roger Williams (495) and Yale (519).

CofC was led by 80 first-place points in the A-Division race by senior skipper Jackson Benvenutti (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) and junior crews Sam Stokes (Norfolk, Va.) and Alyssa Aitken (Sandwich, Mass.) as well as 114 second-place points in the B-Division by sophomore skipper Mac Mace (Newport Beach, Calif.) and senior crew Kip Watson (Duxbury, Mass.) and junior crew Perry Emsiek (Corona del Mar, Calif.).

Other sailors contributing to the win were junior Zeke Horowitz (Sarasota, Fla.) with 92 second-place points in the C-Division and sophomore Brendan Faria (Middletown, R.I.) with 100 third-place points in the D-Division.

The Cougars also placed second in the Final Four Knockout Series at the 2011 Mendelblatt Team Race hosted by Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., behind skippers Ben Spector (Santa Clarita, Calif.), Cameron Hall (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Chris Banholzer (Hartland, Wis.) and crews Brooks Clark (Newport Beach, Calif.), Alexis Scott (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Carly Shevitz (Santa Barbara, Calif.).

CofC led all six crews participating in the first and second rounds of the Gold race with a 4-1 record to advance to the Final Four. They beat Salve Regina University, 2-0, in the semifinals, but fell short of eventual team champion MIT, 2-1, in the finals.

In other race competition, the No. 10-ranked CofC women placed 11th at the St. Mary's Women's regatta hosted by St. Mary's College of Maryland on the St. Mary's River in Mt. St. Mary's College, Md.

Junior skipper Corey Hall (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and sophomore crew Sarah Scudder (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) sailed to an eight-place finish in the A-Division with 122 points and fresahman skipper Grace Lucas (Little Silver, N.J.) and sophomore crew Sarah Somes (Grosse Point Park, Mich.) with a ninth-place finish in the B-Division with 108 points.