Tunnicliffe Wins Race Four, Leads Team USA To Strong Finish
On Day Two At World University Games

Izmir, Turkey (August 16, 2005) - Anna Tunnicliffe (Norfolk, Va./Old Dominion University) captured Team USA's first sailing victory of the 2005 Summer World University Games this afternoon in race four of the regatta for Laser Radial at the Karsiyaka Sailing Center. The win was a good way to cap the day for Tunnicliffe, who finished sixth in race three, the first race of the day. Today's performance puts Tunnicliffe in second place in the overall regatta standings with seven points total, just behind Poland's Katarzyna Szotynska who leads with four points.

"It was a great race," said Tunnicliffe. "The wind lightened up a little bit and I got off the line good, went to the right side and there was only a couple of others over there, so it worked out well for me. It was a nice way to end the day. I had a little bit of a rough race the first race, but it's still really early in the competition so it's still hard to tell where anyone is going to finish overall."

Team USA made its strongest showing of the event thus far in the second race of the day, with all four sailors placing in the top 10. Besides Tunnicliffe's victory, Jenny Gervais (Charleston, S.C./St. Mary's College of Maryland) improved dramatically from her previous three races to finish 10th in Laser Radial. On the men's side in Laser, Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif./Georgetown University) kept his consistent form, finishing third, while Brendan Fahey (Kingston, Wash./University of Washington) had his best race of the Games thus far finishing eighth.

With the mayor of Izmir looking on from the press boat on a beautiful warm, sunny day in Izmir Bay and with much lighter winds than yesterday, Campbell found the conditions more to his liking. Campbell is currently in fourth place overall after finishing fifth and third respectively in today's races.

"The conditions were a fair amount lighter today as there was a lot less breeze," said Campbell. "It made a difference only in the fact that it mixed the fleet up a lot more. I personally didn't sail all that much different. I think I had the same scores as yesterday, but some of the guys ahead of me had some bad races and mediocre races. That's what happens in light air, it kind of helps to mix the fleet up. I just need to keep putting solid scores on the board and getting top five finishes like I've been doing and try to keep out of the penalties. I think that I gained a few points on the guys ahead of me and closed the gap a little bit, so I think I'm back close to even with those guys."

USA Head Coach and Team Leader Gary Bodie (Hampton, Va.), is pleased with the performance of his sailors thus far and expects them to continue to do well.

"Race number four in the series was a great race for the Americans in both fleets men and women. It was our best race so far. Anna won in the women and Jenny was up there and ended up 10th. Andrew finished third in the men, and Brendan was top 10 behind him. It was really the first race where all four of them have put it together.

"The air conditions were a little lighter and maybe that is kind of the American style, so that was good. All in all, I think we were consistent today, so another good day."

In race number three, the first of the day, Gervais finished 18th and Fahey finished 19th.

For more information about the World University Games Team - Sailing, please visit the Team's website at www.ussailing.org/olympics/2005WUG/team.htm. For more information about the World University Games, please visit the event website at http://www.universiadeizmir.org/en.  

Sailing competition continues Wednesday, August 17 at 13:00 with races five and six of the regatta at the Karsiyaka Sailing Center. Each competitor will race twice daily through August 20 for a total of 12 races (competitors drop the two lowest scores).

Results:

Women's Laser Radial
Overall Standings - Top Three Plus U.S. Finishers
Name (Country)/Current Place/Race Finish & Points
1. Katarzyna Szotynska (Poland): 1-1-(7)-2; 4 points
2. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA): 2-4-(6)-1; 7 points
3. Tania Elias Calles (Mexico): 3-3-4-(9); 10 points
15. Jennifer Gervais (USA): 17-16-(18)-10; 43 points

Men's Laser
Overall Standings - Top Three Plus U.S. Finishers
Name (Country)/Current Place/Race Finish & Points
1. Johann Cechosz (France): 1-1-(10)-4; 6 points
2. Tonko Kuzmanic (Croatia): (4)-3-1-2; 6 points
3. Kemal Mutlubas (Turkey): 2-4-2-(9); 8 points
4. Andrew Campbell (USA): 3-(5)-5-3; 11 points
16. Brendan Fahey (USA): 18-18-(19)-8; 44 points

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