William Smith College sailors secured a spot in the in the College Sailing/Sperry Women's National Championship, finishing in eighth place in the national semifinals in San Diego, May 24-25. The Herons earned one of the Western Semifinal's qualifying spots, finishing with 192 points.
 
The thirty-six qualifying teams were broken into two 18-team fleets, Eastern and Western. The top nine teams from each fleet advance to the championships which begin on Thursday, May 26. The winner on Friday will take home the Gerald C. Miller Trophy as the national champion.
 
On Day 1, the Western fleet sailed six races in both A and B Divisions. William Smith sat in eighth place after the first day of racing. Today, both divisions completed six more races. In A Division, first-year Bailey Carter, sophomore Sarah Warren, and junior Erin Condon represented the Herons. The trio earned 106 points to finish in ninth place. Carter and Warren competed in races 1-9, finishing in the top-10 five times. Condon sailed with Carter in races 10-12. Carter and Condon won the tenth race, finished fourth in race 11, and placed ninth in the final race of the day.
 
In B Division, junior Christine Moloney, and first-years Lindsey Kloc and Kate Homet represented the Herons. The trio finished their 12 races with 86 points in seventh place. In races 1-8, Moloney and Kloc posted top-ten finishes in all eight races, including wins in races three and seven.
 
Coast Guard finished first in the Western fleet with 84 points, 52 points clear of the field. Yale finished second with 136 points and Brown finished third. University of California Santa Barbara, the College of Charleston, Dartmouth, Wisconsin, and Harvard rounded out the qualifying teams.
 
The Herons return to the national championships for the 15th time since 1999. William Smith's best finish at the regatta was 7th in  2014.