By Sam Gross
Elm Staff Writer
If there is one team that is benefiting from the nearly perfect warm weather we have been having these past few weeks, it’s sailing. As everyone packed their bags and left campus two Fridays ago to enjoy spring breaks in Florida or Mexico, or even their beds at home, the sailing team was busy getting ready to compete in two races that weekend—one at Georgetown and one right at home on the Chester River.
Traveling to Georgetown for the John Jackson Team Race were seniors Mildred Conroy and Mike Whitford, junior Matt Lawler, sophomore Sam Fitzgerald, and freshmen TJ Heist, Dale Strong, and Ryan Bailey. They placed sixth out of eight in two round robin races. They impressed in the second of these races as they won four head to head wins over teams including Georgetown and St. Mary’s.
Staying at home were freshmen Blair Towers, Mackenzie Needham, and Eleanor Conroy, sophomores Erin McAuliffe and Jiwoo Lee, and junior Sam Bedinger. While Conroy, McAuliffe, and Bedinger sailed on Saturday, Needham, McAuliffe, Bedinger, and Towers sailed on Sunday. It seems the good weather with winds from five to 15 knots was in favor of the WC sailing team as they placed first over Pennsylvania, Villanova, William & Mary, and Princeton. In their case they had four full round robins, with Washington finishing with a 14-2 record.
The week was only just beginning after the weekend. While they had Thursday off, they spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday training five hours each day. Beginning their days with practice from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., and then ending them with a three hour session from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Says Towers of her first spring break sailing for WC, “It was a great time to bond with the team while on the water. And the weather was absolutely perfect.”
Friday brought the team to New York, where they prepared for this past weekend’s Team Race Challenge at Merchant Marine. There they faced Cornell, Virginia, Fordam, Columbia, Villanova, Princeton, and Merchant Marine for the chance to compete for the Prosser Trophy. The Prosser Trophy is awarded at the MAISA Team Race Championships and was won last year by Georgetown.
Saturday brought in some gorgeous weather with the winds ranging from four to ten knots from the north, switching to the south towards the end, and favored the WC team as they finished second for the day. Since the wind was nonexistent on Sunday, as the regatta was called off. The Shoremen finished 12-2 with senior Conroy, Heist, Whitford, Strong, Fitzgerald, and Lawler sailing (and Bailey taking over at the tenth race for Conroy).
The WC team is now qualified and will be competing for the Prosser Trophy at St. Mary’s April 7th through 8th, but before then, they have a few more regattas, including the Boston Dinghy Cup hosted by Harvard and MIT this weekend.