The Greens Farms Academy sailing team fended off a lot of fatigue and seven opponents while winning the 2025 ISSA National Invitational Tournament's Founders Trophy regatta this weekend in Virginia.
Due to flight delays, the GFA team—some of which had prom on Thursday—didn't arrive at its hotel until 1 a.m., on Saturday, but the Dragons were on the water first thing in the morning and went undefeated in the first day of action.
On Sunday, the squad lost just once in the team-racing event, posting an overall 13-1 record on the weekend to win the championship.
“I just want to say I've never seen a team work so hard for what we want and the dynamics this year are so good,” said GFA sailor Caroline Collins ‘27. “Although we have our downs, we definitely have our ups, and I think when we're down, we pick each other up and that's what's most important.”
In addition to Collins, other Dragons taking part in the event included: Emmet Ennico '25, Glen Foster '26, Avery Beck '27, Hayes Cooper '27 'and Colin Verrengia '27. The team is coached by Peter Coleman and Stokes Carrigan.
As the team pulled back into campus to end the journey, Coleman addressed his squad and said, “The greatest achievement in sports is to earn respect and that is what you have done this season. You’ve elevated yourselves to a new level and it’s our honor to get to coach you.”
Added Carrigan, “I could not be more proud of this team and these kids and what they've accomplished, how they've worked together and worked hard to accomplish their goals this season. This has been a long road, two years in the making. This team has just worked hard to get better and better all the time. It’s not easy for them, trying to navigate a really challenging academic life with sailing and training, and traveling to get to these regattas, but they just have stuck together. Even when things got hard, they worked incredibly hard and have done incredible things and we couldn't be more proud of them. We're looking forward to what's come.”