NEW ORLEANS, La. – Participating in its second Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) National Championship of the week, the Navy intercollegiate sailing team posted a sixth-place finish in the 18-team field of the ICSA Fleet Race National Championship that was completed Sunday on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans.
 
"This was a really tough event with a wide variety of challenging conditions," said head coach Ian Burman. "It was also an extremely deep and talented fleet and the results were very close all weekend long. Our team put forth a tremendous effort and showed we had the skills to win it all. Unfortunately, they had a hard time staying ahead of the rapidly changing conditions in the last few sets.
 
"While the event didn't end the way we were hoping, it has been a great year for Navy sailing and I couldn't be prouder of and grateful to the members of the class of 2022 that just sailed with an N-Star on their backs. It's a tremendous group and the impact they have had on our team will be remembered and felt for years to come."
 
The four-day event began with the top-36 college sailing teams in the nation competing in two 18-team semifinal regattas, with the top-eight teams advancing to the finals. Navy was seeded in the western semifinal and posted a sixth-place finish with JC Hermus, Jack Carminati, Fiona Lobon, Ryan Wahba and Colin MacGillivray winning the A Division, while Gray Benson, Olivia de Olazarra, Louis Margay, Jonah Hatt, Lobon and Wahba were 11th in the B Division.
 
In the finals, the competition featured challenging competition and conditions, leading to an up and down start by the Midshipmen. However, the weather settled throughout the day, leading to a bounce-back effort by Navy that featured a string of single-digit finishes to close out the day.
 
Heading into Sunday near the top of the leaderboard, the Mids continued their strong showing and closed to within seven points of the lead following race 12. Despite its best efforts to claim its first lead of the finals, an abrupt shift in conditions and an extremely inconsistent wind left Navy attempting to adjust down the stretch.
 
The Midshipmen wound up sixth overall among the 18-team field with Hermus and Lobon taking fourth in the A Division, followed by de Olazarra, Hatt and Wahba finishing 11th in the B Division.
 
Tulane, the host school for the 2022 ICSA National Championships, was crowned the 2022 ICSA Fleet Race National Champions with 223 points. Yale just one point behind the Green Wave in second (224 points), followed by Brown (246 points) in third, Dartmouth (252 points) in fourth and Stanford (260 points) in fifth.
 
UP NEXT
Navy is slated to return to action Monday as it takes part in the ICSA Women's Fleet Race Championship, with the first race of the four-day event scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Free, live video and results are set to be provided via NavySports.com.