April 21, 2010

ITHACA, N.Y. -- After successfully advancing on to the team racing portion of this spring's Nationals a week ago, the Navy intercollegiate sailing team continued its hot streak this week at the America Trophy, hosted by Cornell University.

This event served as the MAISA spring coed championship and qualifier for the ICSA coed Nationals. Navy sailed a strong event from start to finish to secure a fourth-place finish out of 18 and a coveted berth in Nationals, the first round of which will begin on May 1 in Charleston, S.C. Cayuga Lake in Ithaca, N.Y., served up challenging conditions all weekend with temperatures, rain, sleet and winds ranging from calm to 15-plus knots. The conditions were changing so quickly that team members in all weight ranges needed to be ready to go at all times and mid-set crew changes became commonplace. Robert Vann, Clark Hayes and Alice Hong finished fourth in A Division while Martin Sterling, Christina Chance, Saverio Maldari and Lukas Edegran were sixth in B.

In other action, another group of Midshipmen traveled to Geneva, N.Y., for the MAISA Spring Open, hosted by Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The conditions at Hobart were very similar to those at Cornell and the Navy team performed well, finishing third overall in the 12-team regatta. James Allsopp and Caroline Lockett finished third in A while Jason Carminati and Sara Burke finished third in B.

The third event the Midshipmen competed in this weekend was the Navy Keelboat Promo, where a spot opened up for the team to fill on Friday. Three plebes who were idle jumped at the opportunity and Taylor Vann, George Prieto and Devin Laviano had a great deal of fun while learning how to sail the Navy 26s in 20-plus knots of breeze. Despite their lack of experience in the boats, the team fared well, finishing third overall in a fleet of 13 schools.

# GO NAVY #