ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy intercollegiate sailing team kicked off its spring regular-season slate this weekend with runner-up finishes at three different co-ed team racing regattas, taking second place at the DC Open Team Race in Annapolis, Md., the Navy Open Team Race in St. Mary's City, Md., and the Nelson Roltsch Team Race in New Orleans, La.
 
Hosted by Tulane at the site of this year's ICSA Team Race National Championship, the Nelson Roltsch Regatta featured a very strong field, with four of the six teams ranked in the top-10 nationally. The field saw terrific weather all weekend but light winds on Saturday allowed for only one flight to be completed, while Sunday saw better conditions with east winds at 5-12 knots that allowed for 2 round-robins in total.
 
Having had limited time to practice this spring due to weather, the Midshipmen showed a little rust early on by dropping two of their first three races. Navy rounded into form after its early stumbles and rattled off six-straight wins before narrowly losing a back-and-forth race with regatta winner Stanford at the end. Navy's final record of 7-3 was good enough for second overall, as the Mids' team consisted of seniors Nathan Smith, Jack Welburn, Ellie Alex and Darby Graham as well as juniors Henry Allgeier and Fiona Cullen. 
 
With the more experienced sailors away in New Orleans, a younger group of Mids had the opportunity to compete in the Georgetown-hosted DC Open Team Race, the first event of the MAISA team-racing league. With the Potomac River currently closed due to a sewage leak, the regatta was moved from the nation's capital to Annapolis and thus shifted the Navy Open Team Race to St. Mary's City. Saturday was seasonably warm in Annapolis with light wind but the conditions were suitable for a good portion of the day, and Sunday was a little cooler with light and shifty winds coming across the Severn River. Navy lost its first race to Georgetown but got hot after that, going 7-2 in the first round, while a portion of a second round was sailed but the round was not completed. The results left the Mids standing second out of 10 teams, made up of the group of junior Eva Ottenbreit and sophomores Owen MacWilliams, Kyle Reinecke, Sean Trudell, Melania Gonzalez and Sarah McNelly.
 
In the Navy Open Team Race held at St. Mary's College, six teams sailed a triple round-robin in light wind, but Navy and St. Mary's proved to be the class of the field with the two teams only losing races to each other. Unfortunately for the Mids, the Seahawks took two out of three and Navy's overall record of 13-2 placed second in the standings. Sailing for Navy were seniors Ava Farley and Eleanor Niehoff, junior Teddy Martin, sophomores Umi Noritake and Molly Jethwa and freshmen Robbie Richards, Jessica Green and Haley Kloepfer.
 
"While we know Navy Sailing was hoping for regatta wins to open the season, solid finishes across three events speaks to the team's depth," said head coach Ian Burman. "With this much talent and skill on the roster, we know we will be able to train at a very high level and keep improving throughout the spring."
 
Navy continues action March 7-8 with the Jen Harris Spring Team Race and the St. Mary's Team Race.