St. Mary's City, Md. – The nationally-ranked St. Mary's College of Maryland sailing team earned two first-place victories this weekend as the Seahawks traveled to the MAISA Match Race Championship hosted by the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, the Kings Point Dinghy Open, and the Sherman Hoyt Trophy hosted by Brown University.
The sailors at USMMA saw fluctuating sailing conditions this weekend as Saturday was foggy with shifting winds and Sunday was gustier, causing a few knock-downs. The MAISA Match Race saw eight teams competing in Sonars. Sailing for St. Mary's were sophomore Jacob LaDow (San Diego, Calif.), senior Kayla McComb (Newport Beach, Calif.), junior John Wallace (St. Petersburg, Fla.), and senior Victor Diaz de Leon (Lecheria, Venezuela).
The Seahawks managed a 7-0 record in the round robin then advanced to the semifinals where they beat No. 12 Old Dominion University with a pair of wins. In the finals, St. Mary's beat No. 1 Georgetown University with a 2-1 record to take first place overall while No. 11 Navy finished in fourth place. With their top-two finishes, both St. Mary's and Navy qualified for the ICSA Match Race National Championship at the Fort Worth Boat Club in Texas beginning November 16.
The Kings Point Dinghy Open also went well for the Seahawks, who beat 19 other teams to capture first place. The KP Open was made up of A and B divisions, which combined for a total score. Sailing for St. Mary's were junior Randall Hause (Newport Beach, Calif.) and first-years Kaitlyn Noreen (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Natasha Skaalrud (White Bear Lake, Minn.) in the A division and sophomores Nick Clemence (Pewaukee, Wis.), Rachel Ryan (Ellicott City, Md.), and John Boot (Baltimore, Md.) in the B division. In a close contest, the Seahawks narrowly beat second-place No. 17 Fordham University by six points who was followed by No. 14 Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Navy.
St. Mary's sailors also traveled to Brown University for the Sherman Hoyt Trophy, where they placed 11th in an 18-team field, competing in a blustery western wind. Sailing for St. Mary's were juniors Fletcher Sims (Annapolis, Md.) and Nicole DeAngeli (Reno, Nev.) in the A division and first-year Alexander Curtiss (Lake Forest, Ill.) and senior Mimi Roller (St. John, V.I.) in B division. MIT paced the competition with Yale University and Roger Williams University placing second and third, respectively.
It will be a light weekend for St. Mary's this weekend, October 27-28, as the squad will just be split between the War Memorial hosted by the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point and the Top Nine Invitational hosted by State University of New York Maritime College.
