CHESTERTOWN, Md., September 4, 2013 – Washington College Director of Athletics Dr. Bryan Matthews has announced the hiring of Conner Blouin as the school’s new head sailing coach. A 2010 graduate of the school, Blouin was an All-American and Academic All-American collegiate sailor. Since then, he has enjoyed an impressive post-collegiate competitive sailing career.

“We are excited to have Conner join our team,”says Matthews. “As the most successful sailing scholar-athlete in the history of the program, it is wonderful to have him as a member of the Athletic Department. Conner has remained involved in the sailing community and is ready to step in and hit the ground running.  He is the right person at the right time and we couldn’t be happier to welcome him aboard.”

“I am honored to represent my alma mater as the new head sailing coach,” Blouin remarks. “This is a very exciting time to be a part of this program and I am dedicated to making it a perennial national contender.”

While sailing at Washington College, Blouin was a two-year team captain, three-time team Most Valuable Sailor, two-time All-America honorable mention skipper, two-time All-MAISA selection, and 2010 first-team Academic All-American. At the end of his senior year, he became the second student-athlete in school history to win both the College’s Senior Athletic Award, given to the top senior athlete, and the Alfred Reddish Award, given to the senior male athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average. He sailed in the program’s first three ICSA Co-Ed Dinghy National Semifinal regatta appearances and, in 2009, the team’s first-ever appearance at the ICSA Co-Ed Dinghy National Championship regatta. He finished his collegiate sailing career with a school-record 12 career divisional first-place finishes. With Blouin leading the way, the Washington College sailing team was consistently ranked in the ICSA Co-Ed National Top 20, peaking at eighth in the nation in 2009. 

An exceptional student, Blouin was inducted into both Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa and received the College’s Economics Department Award. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Economics and a minor in Philosophy in 2010. He went on to earn a Masters in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst two years later.

Since graduating from Washington College, Blouin has continued his competitive national and international sailing career. His top finishes since that time include a second-place finish in the 2011 International Laser Class Association (ILCA) Grand Prix, Laser Radial; a bronze medal in the 2011 CORK Olympic Classes Regatta, Laser Radial; a fourth-place finish in the 2011 Laser Radial North Americans, and a fifth-place finish at the 2010 Sunfish World Championship in Italy. He was the third-highest finishing American in the 2011 Laser Radial North Americans, qualifying him for the 2012 Laser Radial Open World Championship. In addition, he won 2011 state championships in both Sunfish and Laser Radial. 

Blouin’s most recent coaching experience came in the spring of 2013 when he served as the head race team coach for Rogers and Middletown High Schools in Rhode Island. He has also served as the high school and youth race team coach and, earlier, as the coach of sailing and racing development at Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa; the race team and travel coach at the Chicago Yacht Club, and as a double-handed racing specialist at Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis, Md.

Blouin’s sailing background also includes time spent as a marketing and sales associate for Zim Sailing in Rhode Island and as a communications assistant for US Sailing, the sport’s national governing body. He is a certified Level I Instructor of Sailing by the U.S. Sailing Association. 

As a student (and with a head full of curls), Conner Bluin was a success on the water and in the classroom.