Naval Academy Athletics

Tolen had no prior sailing experience before coming to the Academy, but over Plebe Summer he thought he saw a future in the sport and made the team in the fall. Since then, he has served as foredeck on a Colgate-26 and then as a Mastman/Assistant Navigator onboard the Navy 44 NA23 Defiance. In his first offshore experience, Meade race from Annapolis to Newport, and then a few days later competed in the celestial class of the Merion to Bermuda race. He has grown to love the sport and the people he does it with, and he is eager to continue to learn and grow as a member of the VOST team. As a senior, Meade led his Navy 44 crew over the summer in several regattas, ranging from the longer Annapolis to Newport race to the shorter New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta and Block Island Race week. Come the fall, as team captain Meade led the team through its first non-COVID impacted fall season in two years, while competing in several intercollegiate regattas as mastman for Navy.