ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy intercollegiate sailing team punched its spot in the ICSA Open Fleet Race Finals on Saturday, advancing out of the national semifinals and into the championship regatta on Sunday and Monday in Boston, Mass.
 
With the nation's top 36 teams seeded into two even regattas and the top nine from each event advancing to the finals, the Mids were placed in the eastern semifinal and sailed at Harvard on Friday before competing at MIT on Saturday.
 
The fleet headed out into a light but building westerly breeze on Friday and, as the morning progressed, the breeze kept building with 15-25-knot puffy and shifty conditions by mid-afternoon on the Charles River. Navy got off to a rough start and was in the middle of the pack halfway through the day but a solid afternoon moved the team into the top half of the field.
 
Saturday was very light and races were run in varying breezes, but the Mids handled the challenging conditions well and moved up the scoreboard through the day. A rough last set dropped the team to eighth overall but still comfortably advancing to the finals. Junior Ryan Wahba and sophomores Nathan Smith, Darby Graham and Ellie Alex finished fifth in the "A" division while juniors Evie Blauvelt and Tanner Kelly, sophomore Jack Welburn, freshman Henry Allgeier and Wahba, Alex and Graham finished eighth in the "B" division.
 
The ICSA Open Fleet Race Finals will be held on May 26-27.