ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Jessica McJones highlighted Navy's three-regatta weekend as she qualified for the ICSA Women's Singlehanded National Championship in November. Along with the Faye Bennet MAISA Women's Singlehanded Championship, the Midshipmen also competed in the MAISA Laser Elimination and Chesapeake Invitational this weekend.
After a top-10 finish at the 2018 singlehanded championship,
Jessica McJones is set to return to the national championship after her fourth-place finish at the Faye Bennet MAISA Women's Singlehandeds, where the top-four finishers in the race earned bids to the national championship. The conditions provided strong racing both days and tested the skill of the fleet. Ten of the 14 scheduled races were completed on the first day with a breeze from the south coming in at 10-17 knots.
Brittney Slook joined
Jessica McJones in the field, but Slook bowed out of the regatta with an injury. With
Jessica McJones being the lone Mid left in the field, she won three of the first six races but had some lower finishes as the first day ended. Despite the up and down first day,
Jessica McJones sat in fourth heading into the final day of racing. Sunday featured northeast winds of 8-15 knots to provide another day of strong racing. She started the final day with a pair of second-place finishes and closed strong to finish in fourth overall to clinch her spot in the national championship. This year's championship is in Santa Barbara, Calif., from Nov. 8-10.
On the same course as the women, Navy had three men compete in the 20-boat MAISA Laser Elimination. The event was the final chance for competitors to advance to next weekend's Carl Van Duyne MAISA Men's Singlehanded Championship in Annapolis.
Louis Margay raced strong throughout the weekend, but a string of deep finishes on Saturday afternoon placed him 12th overall. Caden Scheilblauer rallied from a slow start to the regatta and posted strong finished late on Saturday and on Sunday. Scheilblauer looked to qualify for the conference championship, but a ninth-place finish in the final race of the weekend pushed him to seventh and just missing the cut with the top six moving on.
Connor Bayless sailed well all weekend and placed second overall to advance to the Carl Van Duyne next weekend. Bayless and
Gavin McJones – who qualified at last weekend's Laser South – are set represent Navy at the MAISA Men's Singlehanded Championship.
The final event of the weekend for the Midshipmen was at the Chesapeake Invitational at St. Mary's. Only seven races were completed throughout the weekend in a regatta that was divided into two fleets. Navy had three boats competing in each of the 18-boat fleets. In the 420 class,
Olivia de Olazarra and
Anna Cutler placed eighth, while
Nicholas Gartner and
Carlyn Blauvelt led the team to a fourth-place finish in the division. Navy's pair of
Gray Benson and
Elizabeth Linsdell placed fifth in the 420 fleet. The FJ class saw
JC Hermus and
Fiona Lobon finish in second place overall. The Midshipmen had boats finish back-to-back with
Max Brill and
Kimmie Leonard in fifth, followed by
Parker Loftus and
Sally Johnson in sixth.
Next up, the Midshipmen will host the Carl Van Duyne Men's Singlehandeds and they will travel to the Coed/Women's Combined Regatta in Ithaca, N.Y.
