At last weekend’s America Trophy regatta, hosted by Old Dominion, history was not on the Hoyas’ side.

The Georgetown sailing program had not earned an automatic berth to the ICSA Coed National Championship since 1993, and after a slow start, it looked as though the Hoyas’ drought might continue. Then senior skipper Andrew Campbell made his move.

Campbell and his partner, junior Caroline LaMotte, won their final three races in the A division on Saturday to propel Georgetown to a second-place finish out of 18 teams and Georgetown’s first automatic berth in 14 years to the ICSA Coed National Championship, which will be held May 31-June 2 at the College of Charleston. The top four teams qualified.

“Going into the end of Saturday, we needed a good performance from Andrew, and we got it,” Georgetown Head Coach Mike Callahan said.

The Hoyas’ second place showing in the event was the best in the program’s history, and it marked the third year in a row that the team has qualified for all three of the spring’s national championships. Earlier this season, Georgetown qualified for the ICSA Team Race National Championship and the ICSA Women’s National Championship.

Georgetown, ranked fifth in the latest Sailing World College rankings, finished the regatta with 136 total points, 25 points behind first-place Hobart/William Smith, the nation’s top-ranked team. Kings Point placed third with 148 points, while SUNY-Maritime took the final automatic berth with 174 points.

St. Mary’s and Navy, which are both ranked among the top 15 teams in the country, finished a surprising 6th and 8th, respectively.

The weekend’s windy conditions may have factored into the regatta’s rather unexpected results. According to Callahan, the wind shifted directions frequently, making it difficult for sailors to perform consistently well.

“The wind made it more challenging, but we have had plenty of practice in breeze so it wasn’t that big of a deal,” sophomore Chris Behm said.

Led by Campbell, Georgetown won the A division with 49 points, 25 points ahead of second-place Hobart/William Smith. LaMotte joined Campbell for the first ten races before she was replaced by senior Nick Deane for the division’s final five races. The Hoyas placed among the top five teams in 12 of the 15 A division races and recorded six victories.

“We weren’t nearly as tired on Sunday as other teams were, so all of our training really paid off,” Campbell said.

In the B division, Behm guided the Hoyas to a third place finish. After Deane raced with Behm for the first eight races, junior Langdon Mitchell took over for Deane for the next six races. Senior Dan Monico replaced Mitchell as Behm’s crew for the final race of the division. Georgetown won two B division races and finished among the top five teams nine times.

“We had a few races we could have done without, but overall we did alright,” Behm said.

The Hoyas will now turn their attention to the three spring national championships, which will all be hosted by the College of Charleston. The ICSA Women’s National Championship will be held May 24-26 and the ICSA Team Race National Championship will take place May 28-30.

Georgetown is also in the running for the Fowle Trophy, which is awarded to the team with the highest number of points from the three spring national championships as well the men’s single-handed, women’s single-handed, and sloops championships from the fall. Last year, Harvard won the Fowle Trophy, while Georgetown finished second.

“There’s a lot left for us to do. We’re not content with where we are now,” Callahan said.