SEATTLE – The Northwest District of the Interscholastic Sailing Association hosted its District Championship in Team Racing at Seattle’s Sail Sand Point facility on Saturday, May 6 and Sunday, May 7, and eight strong teams — including Bainbridge High School — competed in the varsity regatta, sailing to qualify for the Baker National High School Championship to be held in Norfolk, Virginia later this year.

The NWISA championship is the last regatta of the association’s spring season.

Competitive spirit was high and skills learned over the season were evident in the close racing in each match, BHS team officials said, with leads changing often on the course.

BHS captains Elizabeth Rolfes and Harry Saliba and teammates Olivia Mitchell, Sophia Kasper, Amanda Gilmore, Max Doan and Clayton Marsh stumbled at the beginning of the round robin racing, losing in their first two matches.

But, after two full rotations (56 races), they were in third place.

The top four teams then sailed a final round robin to determine a winner of the qualifying regatta. Therein BHS sailors won all three of their races, besting Orcas, Olympia and Sehome, and the contest came down to the last match as Orcas and Sehome faced off for the title.

All eyes were riveted on the racing and there were cheers as plays were well-executed on the course. In the end, Orcas won the regatta, with Olympia second, and Bainbridge a very respectable third.

A separate course was set for the contestants in the JV Regatta, which was entered by less advanced or incomplete varsity teams and extra sailors from varsity qualifier schools. BHS fielded two JV teams in that regatta, the only school to be able to do so.

The 14 teams in the JV regatta completed only 75 races of their incomplete rotation, and therefore final scores were determined by percentage of races won. The Bainbridge sailors did extremely well, officials said, tying each other for fourth place.

The BHS Team Blue featured sailors Lindsay Campbell, Zach Cooper, Dane Petrakis, Camden Lee, Quinn Ring and Tristan Knoll. The BHS Team Gold sailors were Sophie Crandell, Banning Jones, Will Price, Parker Hutchinson, Hunter Johnston and Laine Pickell.

BHS sailor Daniel Rentz also participated in the JV Regatta, sailing with both Kingston and Olympia teams in mixed school entries, meaning that the teams were made up of sailors from more than one school.