ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy intercollegiate sailing team had another busy weekend with four big events, all within Navy's region. Navy posted two second-place finishes.

The weekend's major interconference regatta was at St. Mary's, where 18 top teams from around the country were in attendance. Navy and Dartmouth both started strong and remained hot throughout the regatta, separating from the rest of the field. Dartmouth slipped ahead right at the end and the Midshipmen had to settle for a solid second place finish overall. Patrick Snow and Mary Morocco finished third in A division while Gary Prieto and Ana Mier brought home the victory in B. Molly Robertson and Nicholas Gartner were also on hand, ready to contribute if the conditions called for it.

At the Central Fall regatta, 14 teams raced at Villanova fighting for four berths in the MAISA fall championship for the War Memorial Trophy. Navy again found itself as one of two teams that broke away from the fleet, but fell just short of the victory, finishing second behind the Merchant Marine Academy. Parker Loftus and Molly Robertson finished second in A division while Peter Hogan and Sarah Barkley won B division.

Navy had its first conference championship of the season at home - the MAISA Women's Singlehanded Championship for the Faye Bennet Trophy. A wide range of wind strengths led to a very tight fleet heading into the final races. Five berths at the Women's Singlehanded National Championship were on the line and most of the fleet of 18 had a legitimate shot at qualifying going into the final set of races. In the end Navy's sailors caught some rough breaks and found themselves on the wrong side of the cut, with Hannah Hughes finishing ninth, Jessica McJones coming in 10th and Brittney Slook 13th overall.

On the same course as the women, two Navy men were competing in the MAISA Laser Elimination. The top six in this event moved on to the conference championship, but the Navy sailors fell on the wrong side of the cut, with Spencer Nora finishing eighth and Tyler Fleig coming in 10th.

In addition to the events our team competed in, this weekend marked the inaugural Friends Of Navy Sailing regatta, where alumni and supporters of our team competed in Navy 26 sailboats. Supporters from all over the country came out and enjoyed a great day of tight racing while rekindling old friendships and reconnecting with the program. It was a great weekend and the program is looking forward to future additions of this regatta with hopefully even more participants.