ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy intercollegiate sailing team competed in 2 events this weekend, hosting the first round of the Open Atlantic Coast Championship series in Annapolis and sending Midshipmen to the Oyster Bowl in Norfolk, Va.
 
In the first round of the Open Atlantic Coast Championship Series, Navy and St. Mary's College each hosted evenly-seeded 18-team regattas, where the top nine from each event advance to the championship finals later in October. Throughout the weekend, challenging conditions and a deep fleet made consistency hard to come by. Despite a few tough races, the Mids were able to put up enough good scores to stay solidly in the top third of the fleet throughout the event. Positions were traded frequently throughout the day on Sunday, with Navy winding up fifth overall and moving on to the finals. Juniors Nathan Smith and Ellie Alex finished fourth in the "A" Division while fellow juniors Jack Welburn and Darby Graham came in seventh in the "B" division.
 
Navy also fielded two teams in the nine-team, combined-division Oyster Bowl hosted by Old Dominion. Both Navy teams got off to a strong start en route to dominating the event, finishing first and second overall. On the top Navy team, freshman Kyle Reinecke and junior Eleanor Niehoff finished second in the combined division while rookie Umi Noritake and sophomore Eva Ottenbreit placed third. For the second-place Navy squad, senior Tanner Kelly and freshman Sarah McNelly claimed the victory in the combined division while sophomores George Carty and Fiona Cullen took eighth.
 
Navy will next sail on Oct. 12-13 in the Nevins Trophy, the Washington College Fall Fleet Race and the Women's Atlantic Coast Championship finals.