ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy intercollegiate sailing team hosted one regatta and competed in two more regattas on the road over the weekend, highlighted by a fourth-place finish at the MAISA Women's Team Race Championship in Washington, D.C.
 
With Georgetown hosting the nine-team MAISA Women's Team Race Championship in the nation's capital, the Midshipmen encountered shifty winds on the first day. The format called for a full nine-team round robin followed by a round of the top-6 and then a final-4 round with scores carrying through. Navy got off to a good start and was able to close out the first round with a 5-3 record and advance to the top 6. 
 
The top 6 round began on Sunday in 10-knot winds on the Potomac, as Navy went 2-3 in that round and advanced on to the final-4 round. The Mids were then able to go 2-1 in the final-4 with wins over Georgetown and St. Mary's to move into a tie for third, but St. Mary's held the head-to-head tiebreaker and Navy wound up fourth overall with a 9-7 record. Navy's skippers included senior Ava Farley, junior Josie Sherry and junior Kate Zurinskas, with senior Ella Niehoff, junior Mary Dwyer and sophomore Melania Gonzalez as crew.
 
At home in Annapolis, Navy hosted 18 teams for the Truxtun Umsted Regatta, one of the spring's few major fleet-racing events. Race management successfully navigated difficult, shifty winds to complete eight races per division on Saturday, while Sunday brought a steadier south-southeast breeze that built throughout the day. Despite sailing well for most of the event, inconsistent finishes kept Navy from the top spots and resulted in a fifth-place finish, with junior George Carty and senior Margo Cicero placing ninth in the "A" division and freshmen Leo Robillard and Ethan Martin finishing fifth in division "B".
 
In the third event of the weekend, Navy traveled to the 16-team Thompson Trophy, the weekend's major open team-race regatta hosted at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. With many of Navy's experienced sailors resting after winning the Prosser Trophy a week earlier, a younger group of Mids stepped up for the competitive event. The challenging field was compounded by strong currents and unpredictable northwest winds ranging from 5 to 30 knots on the first day.
 
Navy led late in several Saturday races but sudden gusts cost the team potential victories, leaving them with a 3-9 record after day one. On Sunday, an 8-to 12-knot southerly breeze provided more comfortable conditions and the Mids swept their remaining three round-robin races, with Navy finishing 11th overall at a 6-9 record. The team's skippers were sophomores Owen MacWilliams, Kyle Reinecke and Sean Trudell, joined by a crew of sophomores Gregory Lesmerises-DeGraff, Molly Jethwa and Sarah McNelly and freshman Noelle Sizemore.
 
Navy continues the spring slate April 18-19 when it competes for the America Trophy, MAISA's Coed Championship.