BRISTOL, R.I. — The Roger Williams University Sailing team is set to compete at the Open Fleet Race National Championship beginning Tuesday, as the Hawks open competition in the national semifinal round.
Roger Williams enters the championship after earning a third-place finish at the Coast Guard Alumni Bowl, the NEISA Open Fleet Racing Championship hosted by Brown University on April 18-19. The Hawks totaled 106 points in the 18-team championship field, finishing behind only Harvard University and Brown while placing ahead of nationally-ranked programs including Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston College, and Tufts University.
The Hawks were led by a dominant effort in A Division, winning the division title with just 38 points across 10 races. Carlos Bermudez de Castro (La Coruña, Spain) and Addy Fisher (Charleston, S.C.) guided Roger Williams through the opening eight races before Kyle Pfrang (Suffolk, Va.) and Jed Lory (Severna Park, Md.) closed the regatta in the final two races. Roger Williams recorded nine top-four finishes in A Division, including a race victory in the fourth race of the series.
In B Division, the Hawks finished fifth overall with 68 points behind strong performances from Oliver Stokke (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Carter Sheehan (Middletown, R.I.) in the opening eight races before Tristan McDonald (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Dawson Chambers-Tartaglino (Somers, Mont.) finished the regatta in the final two races. Roger Williams closed the championship with victories in each of the final two B Division races to help secure the overall podium finish.
The Hawks' success throughout the spring was reflected in the postseason conference awards, as Roger Williams placed five student-athletes on the All-NEISA Open Fleet Racing teams. Bermudez de Castro and Lory earned First Team honors, while Pfrang, Stokke, Fisher, and Sheehan were named to the Second Team. Bermudez de Castro also earned recognition as a finalist for the NEISA Open Skipper of the Year award.
The national championship regatta begins with semifinal competition on Tuesday and Wednesday, where teams will compete for one of nine available sports in the semifinal for the championship finals scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
Roger Williams will look to improve upon last season's national championship appearance, where the Hawks finished 11th in the semifinal standings, narrowly missing the top-nine cut needed to advance into the championship finals.
