NEW LONDON, Conn. — 

The United States Coast Guard Academy sailing team will head into November with representatives at two major championships. Sophomore dinghy sailor Richard Pokorny (Brick Township, N.J.) has been selected to compete in the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Open Singlehanded Championship, while the Bears offshore team has qualified for the Kennedy Cup.

Pokorny will represent Coast Guard at the singlehanded championship as an at-large selection, earning his berth after finishing fourth at the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association's (NEISA) championship for the Monotype Trophy earlier this season. The regatta will take place on November 7-8 at American Yacht Club in Rye, New York, co-hosted by American Yacht Club and Fordham University. Pokorny will compete against the top 18 collegiate singlehanded sailors in the country, vying for the Glen S. Foster Trophy. 

Junior sailor Benjamin Reeser (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) was also in contention for a national championship berth. Throughout the qualifying process, Reeser has been an integral part of Pokorny's preparation, serving as a dedicated training partner from the beginning. His commitment and support have played an important role in Pokorny's development and will continue to be valuable as he prepares to compete on the national stage.

The Coast Guard offshore team has officially qualified for the Kennedy Cup, one of the longest-standing trophies in college sailing. It is also widely regarded as the big-boat national championship. The Bears earned an at-large berth following a strong fall season, highlighted by a first-place finish at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta; a tie for fifth at the McMillan Trophy; and a fifth-place finish at the Larchmont IOR.

The team is led by senior Ned Jobson (Madison, Conn.), Keith Teague (Austin, Tex.), Mara Maas (Iowa City, Iowa), and Ben de Ondarza (Plattsburgh, N.Y.), alongside junior Sarah Evans (Stowe, Vt.). The roster also includes juniors Elizabeth Hetzler (Carlton, Oreg.) and Danny Cecil (Annapolis, Md.), and sophomores Teddy Friedman (Newton, Mass.) and Ben Smith (Sykesville, Md.).

Evans, Jobson, Teague, and de Ondarza return to the Kennedy Cup after helping the Bears secure a third-place finish in 2025. They will look to build on that performance as the team takes on another highly competitive fleet hosted by the United States Naval Academy from Friday, October 30, through Sunday, November 1. 

With the dinghy program represented at the national championship level and the offshore team returning to one of collegiate sailing's premier big-boat competitions, the Bears are poised for an exciting finish to the fall season.