BHS sailing posts best-ever finish at national championship
Published 1:30 am Thursday, June 4, 2026
The Bainbridge High School sailing team delivered its best-ever result at the ISSA Mallory National Championship during the last weekend of May, placing 15th among 20 of the country’s top programs and finishing as the top Northwest team in the field.
The Mallory Trophy is high school sailing’s national fleet racing championship. This year’s regatta was held May 30-31 on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, with racing conducted in ZIM FJs and 420Es.
The Spartans’ strongest result came in B Division, where skipper Nelson Dorsey and crew Beckett Ladenburg placed 11th in the division. They finished in the top 10 in seven of 16 races, including a win in race 4B, a fourth-place finish in race 3B, and a sixth-place finish in race 8B.
In A Division, skippers Cyrus Yan and Stone Dewey sailed with crews Emma Jackson and Carson Domansky. Yan and Jackson delivered the group’s top A Division race, placing sixth in race 7A.
Together, Bainbridge’s A and B Division performances combined for a 15th-place overall finish, the Spartans’ best result at the Mallory. Bainbridge previously placed 18th at the 2016 championship and 20th in 2023.
The two-day championship tested the fleet in shifting and often difficult conditions. On May 30, sailors waited through light air for a breeze to fill. After a long shoreside delay, racing resumed in the early evening when a southerly breeze arrived, and teams stayed on the water until just before sundown. Racing resumed May 31, and race officials completed the full schedule in both divisions as the breeze built on Lake Pontchartrain.
Bainbridge earned its Mallory berth by finishing second at the NWISA Fleet Race Championships earlier in May. Severn School won the 2026 Mallory Trophy, followed by St. George’s School and Mater Dei High School.
