April 15, 2009

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Navy's only event of the past weekend was the MAISA Team Race Championship for the Captain Prosser Trophy, which was hosted at the Academy. This is always a hard fought event, with the top three teams qualifying to compete in the Team Race National Championship.

Saturday's weather saw rain and strong breezes, but the races were getting completed at a rapid pace. The Navy team finished the day at 6-5, leaving an uphill battle to qualify coming into the second day of the event. The breeze was up again, but the sun was out on Sunday, providing a gorgeous day of team racing to decide the event. Navy started the day strong by taking a victory from SUNY Maritime, which stood in third place after day one and finished the second round strong to qualify for the final four. As the final four began, St. Mary's and Georgetown had already wrapped up spots in the Nationals with identical 12-2 records, while Navy stood 8-6, one win behind SUNY Maritime at 9-5.

Navy began the final four with a solid win against St. Mary's where the Mids led most of the way around the course and SUNY looked doomed in their race with Georgetown until it found a way to sail ahead just before the finish. In the next final four flight, SUNY again snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against St. Mary's while Navy couldn't quite find a way to win against Georgetown, wrapping up the final spot in the Nationals for SUNY and eliminating Navy with one race remaining. Navy still was able to beat SUNY in the final race of the regatta, while Georgetown beat St. Mary's to claim the Prosser Trophy. Despite the disappointment of missing out on the opportunity to compete at the Nationals, the Navy team of skippers Andrew Vann, Martin Sterling, Robert Vann, Timothy Murphy and crews Christina Chance, Juaquina Soland, Sara Burke, Clark Hayes, Trisha Kutkiewicz and Tina Pryne should be proud of the effort they put forth on Sunday to pull back into contention.

# GO NAVY #