CHARLESTON, S.C. --- The College of Charleston sailing team enters the weekend fresh off another dominant start to the season claiming first place in both A and B Divisions of the SAISA Top 9 Invite on home waters last week to open the Conner Blouin era.
 
Noah Zittrer and Chloe Hudgins posted 14 points in A Division with top-three finishes in five of their six rotations while Benjamin Dufour and Lucy Klempen finished B Division with 19 points with a trio of top-two finishes and placing among the top six in all six rotations.
 
The Cougars take back to the water in three separate regattas this weekend with a trip across town to The Citadel for the SAISA North Top 6 Invite and two regattas in Florida – the SAISA Open Singlehanded Championship and SAISA Women's Singlehanded Championship.
 
Charleston is set to sail against Clemson, Duke, NC State, The Citadel and South Carolina seeking multiple SAISA regatta wins to start the season for a second-straight fall. The Cougars will have a quartet of freshmen make their collegiate sailing debut this weekend in Charleston – Jon Ciffilillo, Andrea Melnik, Dillon Garcia and Clara Murphy.
 
Meanwhile down in Florida, the Cougars compete in the Women's Singlehanded Championship Saturday with 10 races scheduled followed by the Open Singlehanded Championship on Sunday. Courses will either be W3, W4 or W5 in the Indian River Lagoon just outside of Melbourne, Fla.
 
The trio of Rowan Schanley, Emma Tallman and Fredrikke Foss will represent in the Women's Singlehand while Benjamin Dufour, Elliot Raison, Ethan Homberger and Lawson Levine compete in the Open Singlehand. Each sailor has the chance to qualify for the Singlehanded Nationals running November 11-12 with a strong showing this weekend.
 
For up-to-date race information and scores from this weekend's dinghy racing, visit scores.collegesailing.org.