College of Charleston
St. Mary's Intersectional
Cougars Successful In Full Weekend Of Sailing
9/28/2015 9:09:00 PM | Sailing
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The College of Charleston coed and offshore sailing teams had a successful full weekend of racing as a total of 37 sailors competed at five different regattas up-and-down the East Coast.
The Cougars' singlehanded sailors – sophomore Stefano Peschiera (Lima, Peru), junior Enrique Arathoon (Guatemala City, Guatemala), senior Reed Baldridge (Clear Lake, Texas) and freshman Gerald Williams – dominated the SAISA Men's Singlehanded Championship held in Jacksonville, Fla.
Peschiera defended his SAISA title as CofC swept all Top 4 places at the event. A 2016 Summer Olympic medal-hopeful, Peschiera will look to defend his national title at the ICSA Men's Singlehanded National Championship to be sailed on Nov. 7-8 in Norfolk, Va. Arathoon and Baldridge also qualified for nationals placing second and third respectively.
The team of sophomore Christophe Killian, junior Jack Cusick (Fairfield, Conn.), sophomore Grace McCarthy (San Diego, Calif.), sophomore Clare Dahl (Newport Beach, Calif.), senior Michaela Reynolds (Providence, R.I.) and freshman Caroline Bracken also sailed consistently against some very deep talent to finish an impressive third overall (235 points), behind first-place Georgetown (169 points) and second-place Old Dominion (193 points), at the St. Mary's Fall Intersectional in St. Mary's Md.
“This past weekend produced some excellent results for all of our teams,” CofC Director of Sailing Greg Fisher said. “We are proud of how well everyone sailed at their various events. Certainly compiling these impressive victories speaks to the incredible depth and wide-reaching talents of our team.”
CofC's team race squad comprised of two-time senior All-American skipper Jake Reynolds (San Diego, Calif.), senior skipper Ryan Davidson (Newport Beach, Calif.), senior skipper Dodge Rees (Pensacola, Fla.), senior crew Beka Schiff (Tampa, Fla.), senior crew Alex Whipple (Manhasset, N.Y.) and senior crew Emily Stuart (Newport, R.I.) finished seventh at the Hinman Trophy Team Race event, which serves as the U.S. Team Race National Championships, in Annapolis, Md.
Freshmen R.J. Porter (Fontana, Wis.), Hannah Baylis, Charlie Morano and Clare Perry also sailed the North Points #3 regatta hosted by Clemson in Clemson, S.C. The foursome competed against 11 other schools, where they dominated the field, winning 11-of-12 races and by an overall margin of 33 points over second-place Georgia Tech.
Back home in the Lowcountry, the offshore team continued on its winning ways with an A-Division victory at the home-hosted Charleston Leukemia Cup hosted annually by the Charleston Yacht Club in conjunction with the CofC sailing program to raise awareness for leukemia.
Sailing “Soul”, a J/36, the Cougars comprised of bow Holly Deuterman, mast Audrey Webb, squirrel/runners Brandon Folkman and Sarah Wilkinson, pit Julia Lines, primary trim Grace Wilkinson, secondary trim Howie Meyers, main trim Will Hundahl and drive Marc Deloach, defeated a competitive group of offshore racers in one of the largest events held for Charleston local offshore sailors.
“Coug”, a Melges 30, also sailed by an all CofC offshore team comprised of bow Keenan Hilsinger, mast Scott Nord, squirrel/runner Jamie Craven, pit Corinne Durocher, primary trim Stefan Kuehn, secondary trim Hanna Horan, main trim Noah Blacker and drive Jay Greenfield, finished sixth at the regatta.
Up next for the Cougars, the SAISA Women's Singlehanded Championship on Saturday, Oct. 3, and SAISA Women's Fall Dinghy regatta on Sunday, Oct. 4 – both to be held at the J. Stewart Walker Sailing Complex in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
Players Mentioned
