ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Following the Navy intercollegiate sailing team's participation in two Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) National Championships last week, the senior duo of
Gray Benson and
JC Hermus were recognized as ICSA All-American skippers in an awards ceremony held Sunday.
Benson was named an honorable mention All-American Skipper for the second-straight season, while Hermus earned the fourth All-American Skipper honor of his career. He becomes just the fifth athlete in program history to be recognized as an All-American Skipper four times.
A committee of representatives from the seven conferences in the ICSA selects the ICSA All-America Team. To select an All-American skipper, the committee evaluates a competitor based on their competitive record in inter-conference competition as well as conference and national championships.
The committee analyzes how their record compares to fellow competitors, the quality of the competition and results achieved competing with different crews, the span of the record over the fall and spring seasons and how the record compares to previous All-American winners.
The ICSA is scheduled to announce its All-America Crew, All-America Women's Skipper and Everett B. Morris College Sailor of the Year awards later this week.
Additionally, after leading the Mids efforts at the aforementioned national championships, Hermus was named the NAAA Athlete of the Week presented by Northrop Grumman.
The Midshipmen finished sixth in the 16-team field of the ICSA Team Race National Championship, followed by recording an additional sixth-place finish among the 18 teams in the field of the ICSA Fleet Race National Championship over the weekend.
Hermus paced Navy to a record of 14-8 at the team race nationals, which fell just one win shy of clinching a bid to the final four round of the competition. The senior standout was at the forefront of a comeback by the Mids that clinched their berth into the round of eight, which featured five-straight wins to advance after sitting with a 5-5 record through 10 races.
At the fleet race championship, Hermus competed in the A Division and led Navy to a first-place finish in the division with 59 points. With a spot in the finals of the championship clinched, the senior continued to pace the Mids by taking fourth in the A Division with 107 points on 11 top-10 finishes.
Navy is scheduled to return to action Monday for the ICSA Women's Fleet Race National Championship, with free, live video and results of the championship being provided via NavySports.com.
