ST MARY'S CITY, Md. – The Navy intercollegiate sailing team concluded its regular season over the weekend in St. Mary's City, Md., capturing a second-place finish at the Mid-Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (MAISA) Open Fleet Race Championship for the America Trophy.
 
Sunday also saw six Midshipmen garner All-MAISA selections, while seniors Nathan Smith and Ellie Alex were named the MAISA Open Skipper of the Year and MAISA Crew of the Year for the second-straight season, respectively.
 
Hosted by St. Mary's, the competition for the America Trophy featured the conference's top 18 teams that qualified through earlier regattas. Following a brief delay waiting for the wind to fill on Saturday, racing began in a light northeasterly breeze. The wind shifted right and built throughout the day but remained puffy and unpredictable. Navy started strong, though unforced errors prevented the Mids from securing an early lead. After a solid late push to close the first day, Navy stood in second overall in a tight battle near the top of the leaderboard.
 
With only four races remaining per division on Sunday, conditions changed drastically. A cold front brought lower temperatures, cloudy skies, occasional showers and heavy wind. While the wind decreased as the day progressed, it remained shifty. The Mids recorded five top-three finishes on Sunday but fell just short of the overall victory.
 
Smith and Alex and sophomore Gregory Lesmerises-DeGraff finished second in the "A" division, while juniors Henry Allgeier, Fiona Cullen and Spencer Dominguez claimed the victory in the "B" division. The overall finish secured the Mids one of MAISA's two automatic berths for the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Open Fleet Race National Championship, scheduled for May 19-22 in St. Petersburg, Fla.
 
Following the races, six Navy sailors earned All-MAISA honors, as Smith and Allgeier were named to the All-MAISA Open Skipper First Team and senior Jack Welburn earned second-team Open Skipper distinction, while Alex, Cullen and senior Darby Graham were selected as First-Team All-MAISA Crew selections. In addition, Allgeier joined Smith as the two finalists for Open Skipper of the Year and Alex was the lone finalist for Crew of the Year.
 
Navy enters the postseason this week when it competes at the ICSA Team Race Championship (April 23-25) and the ICSA Women's Team Race Championship (April 26-27), with both championship regattas taking place in New Orleans, La.