ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. - The MIT Sailing team finished 14th at the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Women's Fleet Race National Championship, which was held in St. Mary's City, Md. and hosted by St. Mary's College. The Engineers earned a seventh-place finish in the Eastern Semifinals to qualify for the championship final. Stanford won the National Championship with 198 points followed by Tulane (209), and Harvard (223).
EASTERN SEMIFINALS (7th of 18, 131 Points):
- After day one the Engineers were in a three-way tie with Penn and BC as all three teams ended the opening day of competition with 31 points. MIT took fourth based on head-to-head tiebreaker. Senior Brooke Schmelz (Monmouth Beach, N.J.) and sophomore Elliott Chalcraft (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) held second in the 'A' Division with eight points as they earned a first, third, and fourth-place finish. In the 'B' Division, seniors Lucy Brock (Austin, Texas) and Mercedes Escandon (Brick, N.J.) finished 12th with 23 points.
- Day two saw MIT finish in seventh to qualify for the National Championship. The Engineers finished with 131 total points over the two days. Stanford came away with the victory with 69 points.
- In the 'A' Division, Schmelz, first year Karya Basaraner (Izmir, Turkey), Chalcraft, and first year Sophia Woodbury (Sarasota, Fla,) steered the team to a fifth-place finish with 55 points, highlighted by a win in race five. Brock, junior Brooke Barry (West Hartford, Conn.), Escandon, and senior Shayne Bersin (Port Washington, N.Y.) steered the 'B' Division boat to a ninth-place finish after two days after they finished in the top ten in all but two races.
FINALS (14th of 18, 320 Points):
- MIT finished day one in sixth place with 48 points. The 'A' Division boat of Schmelz and Chalcraft scored 22 points to take seventh. The team started the event with a victory. The 'B' Division boat with Brock, Escandon, and Bersin finished tenth after day one with 26 points.
- Schmelz and Chalcraft finished with 156 points in the 'A' Division to finish 13th after two days of competition. Overall, they collected eight top-10 finishes. In the 'B' Division, Brock, Bersin, and Escandon totaled 164 points to take 12th overall with seven top-10 places.
UP NEXT:
- MIT will compete in the Open Fleet Race National Championships, also held in St. Mary's City, from Tuesday, May 27-Friday, May 30.
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