The Little Sailing Team That Could

St. Mary's College of Md., With 1,900 Students, Adds 2 National Titles to Its Trophy Case

Tiny colleges in rural Southern Maryland aren't supposed to win national championships in anything.

St. Mary's College of Maryland has 1,900 students and a campus known primarily for its proximity to St. Mary's City, the state's first capital. You'd think it wouldn't do well in competitions against schools such as Harvard University, with its $30 billion endowment, or the University of Michigan, with its legendary athletic programs.

Yet every year, St. Mary's fields one of the most dominant teams in U.S. college athletics. By the start of the 2007 season, the Seahawks had won 10 national sailing titles, consistently beating Ivies and other major universities.

The Seahawks hadn't won a championship since 2004, but in 2007 they knew they'd have a shot at the ultimate goal: winning nationals in the team race and in the women's and coed dinghy competitions -- the Triple Crown of sailing. Only one team had ever done it, and this year was St. Mary's chance.

"They've been dominant for quite a while," said Mitch Brindley, president of the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association of North America. "Every year, you know they could win."

But on the team's first day of practice last fall, any hopes of winning three championships seemed to fly out the window. One of St. Mary's stars, Olympic hopeful Adrienne Patterson, dislocated her knee. The women's team had started the season ranked in the top 10, but no one thought it could do as well without Patterson.

Within a few weeks, Patterson was back in the water, but during the winter break, her mother died. Then a male teammate who also hopes to compete in the Olympics left the team to train on his own. It started to seem as if the big dogs could get the best of tiny St. Mary's this year.

Sailing coach Adam Werblow refused to be discouraged. He continued running a rigorous training schedule and telling his team that hard work would make the Seahawks champions again. By the end of the regular season, the women's and coed teams were ranked No. 1.

"We had all these obstacles on and off the water, but these kids just kept plugging along," Werblow said. "Their focus was incredible."

Last week, the women's team piled into a van to drive to Old Dominion University in Roanoke for the first of the national championship events. Each of two pairs would sail 18 races, with first place earning one point and last place 18, so that the team with the lowest score would win. Werblow told the sailors not to worry about winning individual races, saying that consistently finishing in the top six would be enough to win.

The Lady Seahawks won in a blowout, beating the College of Charleston, the runner-up, by 44 points. Nine months after injuring her knee and six months after her mother died, Patterson was named the female sailor of the year.

The team championship, which pits teams head-to-head, was a much closer affair this week in Annapolis. Yale University posed a serious challenge. Final score: St. Mary's 12, Yale 11.

The hype over St. Mary's was in full swing by the time the coed dinghy championship opened Wednesday in Annapolis. The crimson "H" signifying Harvard's team jerseys didn't seem quite so prestigious next to the orange and gold cross of St. Mary's. For the first time all season, Werblow began to think his team might pull off the historic feat.

In the first of 36 races, St. Mary's finished 16th out of 18 teams. Next came a 10th place finish, then 12th. By the end of the first day, the Seahawks -- the top-ranked team in coed racing -- were ninth.

"We're getting killed out there," Werblow said Wednesday night.

Led by junior captain Maggie Lumkes, St. Mary's moved up slightly Thursday, but the team was in seventh place with eight races to go. A delayed start Friday morning because of low wind prolonged the anticipation.

Finally, the team that had beaten so many obstacles found one that it could not overcome. Fittingly, it wasn't Harvard or Yale or Michigan that ended St. Mary's winning streak, but the College of Charleston, a similarly obscure college outside the sailing world. The Seahawks finished sixth, and the Triple Crown of sailing remained elusive for another year.

Of course, St. Mary's sailors were disappointed. But last night, they headed home with two national championships and the trophy for the top female sailor in the country. Final score: St. Mary's 2, Charleston 1, Ivies 0.