TAMPA, Fla. — The Cornell sailing team capped one of the strongest women's fleet racing seasons in program history with a fifth-place finish at the ICSA Women's Fleet Race National Championship, hosted by the University of South Florida. The Big Red totaled 171 points across the 18-team national field, finishing behind only national champion Stanford, Ivy rivals Yale and Harvard, and Bowdoin.
The Big Red opened the championship in fifth place after day one, using several strong individual race efforts to remain firmly in contention. Junior skipper Winborne Majette and senior crew Maya Conway highlighted A division with a victory in race three and a series of top-five finishes that kept Cornell near the front of the standings through the opening six races. In B division, sophomore skipper Gilda Dondona and senior crew Sophia Mulvania battled through a difficult opening stretch before senior skipper Sophia Devling stepped into the rotation and helped stabilize the division late in the day. Cornell climbed the leaderboard on the final day with one of the strongest closing stretches in the regatta. Majette and Conway delivered back-to-back victories in races 11 and 12 of A division, helping Cornell surge past multiple teams in the standings, while Devling and Mulvania added four top-six finishes over the final six B division races to secure the Big Red's third top-five national finish in the past four seasons.
Cornell qualified for nationals after an impressive showing at the ICSA Women's Fleet Race Western Semifinals, where the Big Red placed third overall in a highly competitive 18-team field. Racing conditions shifted dramatically throughout the two-day semifinal, ranging from light and unstable breeze to steady northwesterlies approaching 18 knots. Cornell stayed near the top of the leaderboard throughout the event behind balanced performances in both divisions. Majette and Conway closed the semifinal with four top-three finishes in A division, while sophomore skipper Ava Gustafson teamed with freshman crew Grace Penque for a steady B-division effort before Devling and freshman crew Anna Iacobucci joined the rotation later in the regatta. The semifinal performance secured Cornell's return to the national championship field and set the stage for the Big Red's fifth-place finish against the nation's top teams.
The Open team will compete in the national semifinals beginning on Tuesday, May 19 in Tampa.
