The Georgetown sailing team continued its success on the water this past weekend, placing first and third overall in the NY Maritime Fall Open and the Nevins Trophy, respectively.

At the NY Maritime Fall Open, sophomores Andy Reiter and Rebecca Fung finished first in the A division. In the B division race of the same competition, junior Jack Marshall and senior Albert Kraus comprised the second place team.

In the Nevins Trophy, the first interconference competition of the year, the Hoyas emerged third overall of the 20 teams competing. Interconference events include the best teams in country and the competition proved intense for Georgetown.

Senior AJ Reiter and junior Meaghan MacRae placed tenth overall in the A Division, junior Roger Dorr and sophomore Haley Shea came away fourth in the B Division and senior Greg Martinez competing individually in the C Division single-handed competition placed first.

“I started off kind of slow and knew I had to pick up halfway through the event,” Martinez said. “I started sailing a lot harder and a lot stronger and ended up with some really consistent results.”

In the final race Martinez put five boats between himself and the competitor in first place to win, ultimately claiming the top spot in a tiebreaker. Martinez is already focusing on next weekend and looking to help the Hoyas maintain their strong performance this season.

“Going forward I’m going to keep working hard in the gym and take that strength and focus out on the water,” Martinez said.

“I was encouraged,” Georgetown Head Coach Michael Callahan said when speaking of the team’s performance this past weekend. “I think Greg’s result masked some of the issues we had in the A and B Division.”

The Georgetown sailing team experienced a significant loss this offseason, graduating 18 sailors, many of whom were All-Americans. Callahan named Martinez as one of many seniors who have stepped up as leaders on the team this season.

“It’s important to encourage new freshmen and underclassmen to motivate the juniors and seniors, the veterans on the team,” Martinez said.

Due to the unprecedented number of graduated seniors and an untimely number of sailors abroad, the team has taken on a number of walk-ons this season.

“We’re sill in the process of having people try out and join the team,” Callahan said. “Some of them have plenty experience, some are fairly green to it.”

These newer sailors will not be competing for Nationals until the spring. Callahan described the importance of showing them the ropes before working them into a top sailing program like that of Georgetown.

“We’re going to take it nice and slow with them and get them acclimated to the boats.” With sailors like Martinez, Patton Hughes and Lola Bushnell competing in Nationals this fall, the team does not have the luxury of time.

“We’re going to try to push them to perform in the fall,” Callahan said.

Optimistic about the team’s performance, Callahan is focused on continuing Georgetown’s success into the upcoming weekend and having the team’s younger talent gain more experience on the water.

“We’re trying to figure out who our best sailors are, still, and for the women it’s just about time in the boat,” Callahan said.

Next weekend the Hoyas will compete in the Faye Bennet MAISA Women’s Singles, a single-handed women’s qualifier for the national championship. Additionally the team will participate in the in-conference Tom Curtis Memorial Regatta, a co-ed double-handed qualifier.