ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy intercollegiate sailing team returned from spring-break training this weekend to compete in a pair of major regattas, highlighted by a sixth-place finish at the Graham Hall Team Race in Annapolis and a 10th-place showing at the St. Mary's Women's Fleet Race.
Hosting 16 of the nation's top-ranked programs at the Graham Hall Team Race, the Midshipmen navigated puffy, shifty west winds of 6-to-20 knots in warmer-than-expected temperatures on Saturday while facing lighter breezes with strong currents on Sunday. Race management, led by Principal Race Officer and 1992 USNA graduate Gavin O'Hare, completed a grueling 162 races over the weekend, with 98 races on Saturday alone.
The Mids compiled an 11-4 record in the opening round-robin to advance to the gold-six round. However, the team's momentum stalled in the gold bracket, where a 1-4 record left Navy one victory short of the final-four round, placing sixth overall. Navy's lineup had skippers in seniors
Nathan Smith and
Jack Welburn, junior
Henry Allgeier and sophomore
Owen MacWilliams, while the crews consisted of MacWilliams, seniors
Ellie Alex and
Darby Graham, juniors
Fiona Cullen and
Spencer Dominguez and freshman
Ethan Martin.
In St. Mary's City, Navy faced an 18-team field in one of the spring schedule's few fleet-racing events at the St. Mary's Women's Fleet Race. Inconsistent winds caused multiple postponements throughout the weekend, though the regatta successfully managed to complete a full 14-race series per division.
The Mids a bit up and down throughout the weekend and ended in the middle of the pack at 10th overall. Seniors
Ava Farley and
Eleanor Niehoff finished 12th in the "A" division while juniors
Josie Sherry,
Kate Zurinskas,
Mary Dwyer and
Darby Dryden came on strong on Sunday to finish fourth on the "B" side.
Navy continues the season on March 21-22 with the Aaron Szambecki Team Race in Norfolk, Va., the Blaire Herron Memorial Women's Team Race in Washington, D.C., and the Seahawk Team Race in St. Mary's City, Md.
