ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - This weekend the top-ranked Yale sailing team won the first Match Racing National Championship in school history. After qualifying for the event by winning New England Match Race Nationals, the Bulldogs beat out the Naval Academy in the championship race to claim victory in the J70 fleet. 

Skipper Jack Egan, main trimmer Megan Grimes, trimmer Nicholas Davies, and bow Christophe Chaumont traveled to Florida and finished in first place in a competitive 10-team fleet. They went 9-1 in the round robin, falling only to the eventual fourth-place finisher, Georgetown. Then in the final, Yale beat the Naval Academy 2-1 to win the Cornelius Shields, Jr Trophy. 

Egan said, "It was an awesome opportunity to test our stuff against some of the best in the nation, and it was great to come away with the win. I couldn't be more proud of the team." 

Grimes added, "It was a great weekend of sailing with strong competition and challenging conditions and I'm super proud of our team for keeping level heads and sailing hard."

The victory wraps up a tremendous fall season for the coed team. Yale finished the season ranked No. 1 in the country with one of the most consistent and dominant seasons in recent years by any program. This fall the team sailed in 23 coed regattas, scoring consistently well across all event levels. All 33 members of the team earned the opportunity to compete in at least one coed event this season.