ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd open sailing team begins the ICSA Fleet Race National Championships in Kings Point, New York, tomorrow morning, with racing starting at 10:00 AM.
May 30-June 2 | Kings Point, N.Y. | LIVE SCORES | LIVE VIDEO
Eckerd's open team earned the No. 36 seed, with 36 schools selected for nationals. Eckerd is making its first appearance ICSA Championship appearance since 2018. The Tritons will compete in the eastern division, with the top nine teams of the eastern and western divisions advancing to the championship finals.
The open sailing team will compete for the first time in over a month since the SAISA Open Championships on April 8-9, where the team placed fifth in both the team and fleet race championships.
The Tritons will travel six sailors, as skippers Eden Nykamp, Matthew Monts, and Carter Morin will be joined by crew Amelia Johnson, Brooks Jordan, and Tess Levanway in the regatta. Nykamp received first-team All-SAISA honors for open and women's skippers.
Nykamp skippers the A Division for the Tritons. She placed in the top 10 in the A Divison of the western semifinals at the ICSA Women's Fleet Race Nationals last week with Johnson as crew. She placed second in the A Division at the SAISA Women's Fleet Race Championship and fourth at the SAISA Spring Open Invitational. In the fall, Nykamp had a pair of second-place finishes at the SAISA Top Six Invite and the Lake Virginia Invitational, with a third-place finish at the SAISA Fall Women's Championship.
Monts skippered the A and B Divisions this year with three top-five finishes. He paired with Jordan and Levanway in the A Division of the Eckerd Interconference for a third-place finish in the A Division with 52 points. Monts added another three top-10 finishes, including a sixth-place finish in the B Division of the SAISA Open Team Race Championship.
Morin joined Eckerd in the spring season as a skipper with two third-place finishes in team races. He skippered the B Division at the SAISA Spring Open Invitational with Levanway for a tenth-place finish with 92 points.
Johnson placed in the top 10 in the A Divison of the western semifinals at the ICSA Women's Fleet Race Nationals last week paired with Nykamp. She paired with Lily Schwartz in races 1-5 of the B Division at the SAISA Women's Fleet Race Championships for a top-five finish in the B Division.
Jordan contributed to four top-five finishes in the A Division this year, including a third-place finish at the Eckerd Interconference in February, serving as crew in races 1-10 with Monts. Jordan added another two top-10 finishes at the Hanbury Trophy and the SAISA Open Fleet Race Championships.
Levanway returns to the water at Kings Point after competing in races 3-8 of the B Division at the ICSA Women's Fleet Race Nationals last week. She also helped Eckerd to a fourth-place finish at the Eckerd Interconference in February, paired with Monts in the A Division for races 11-16, with a third-place finish in the A Division with 51 points. In the fall, Levanway paired with Griffin Richardson in an interconference event, the Miami Trophy, with a first-place finish in the A Division. The pair helped Eckerd finish third overall with 22 total points.
