ANNAPOLIS, Md. – In three events this weekend, the Navy intercollegiate sailing team finished with a pair of top-five finishes, which included a fourth-place finish at the Graham Hall Team Race in Annapolis on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Navy hosted the Graham Hall Team Race, which was the largest and most competitive team race of the season. The regatta, which was named after a former Navy coach, featured a strong lineup of 16 teams. For all of the racing on Saturday and the start of the competition on Sunday, northwest winds made for perfect sailing conditions and helped finish the round robin in the early afternoon on Sunday. Winds ranged from six to 22 knots throughout the weekend. 
 
The Midshipmen had a strong event at home with a record of 11-4 in the round robin to place fourth. Navy's skippers Max Brill, Parker Loftus, Connor Bayless and JC Hermus led crews of Ana Mier, Sean Linden, Bartholomew Winn, Sally Johnson and Kimmie Leonard. The strong finish secured the Midshipmen a spot in the MAISA Team Race Championship for the Prosser Trophy on April 6-7 in St. Mary's City, Md.
 
Navy's other team race event of the weekend was at the Washington College Team Race. The six-team regatta ran efficiently and all three round robins were completed in one day. The Midshipmen sailed well but lost on a tiebreaker to finished third overall with a record of 10-5. Tyler Fleig, Nicholas Gartner and Gray Benson skippered crews of Anna Cutler, Madeline Pruzan and Fiona Lobon.
 
The final event of the weekend for the Midshipmen was the St. Mary's Women's Regatta. In an 18-team field, the regatta featured a wide range of conditions, where it was very windy and shifty early on to barely enough wind to race at times. However, Navy finished 12th overall in the field. Olivia de Olazarra and Emma Remis placed 12th in the A division and Brittney Slook and Kelly Milliken were 11th in the B Division.
 
Next weekend, the Midshipmen are back on the road at the Aaron Szambecki Team Race and MAISA/SAISA Crossover in Virginia, along with the Seahawk Women's Team Race in St. Mary's City, Md.