Sailing Captures Thompson; Places at Regis

With two important qualifying tournaments looming in the next two Weekends, the Harvard co-ed and women's sailing teams turned in strong performances at each of their regattas this past weekend.

The co-ed varsity team took first overall out of 18 competitors at the Thompson Trophy Race in New London, Conn., and the women's team placed second behind Dartmouth among 10 teams at the Regis Bowl on the Charles.

"[The Thompson Trophy] is our last regatta before qualifiers [in two weeks]," said senior Sally Berens, who sailed with Junior Pete Strothman in the regatta's B division. "It's great we won because the teams are some of the toughest competition we'll face."

Harvard's A-division boat of senior Dan Parkes and sophomore Lauren Toretta finished first over strong competition that included Boston College, Kingspoint and Connecticut College, while the B-division team of Berens and Strothman took third behind Navy and St. Mary's. Junior Brian Fox also crewed several races in both divisions.

The co-ed team will travel to Brown in two weeks for New England Championships, at which the top four boats qualify for Nationals in Tulane.

Radcliffe, while it cannot boast of a first-place finish this weekend, also turned in an impressive performance at its regatta.

"We're feeling very confident," said senior Laura Stearns, who skippered the second-place A-division boat. "It's the last regatta before qualifiers, so it's kind of a way to see how you're lining up against other teams."

The women's B-division boat, which placed third, was skippered by junior Courtney Ermler and crewed by senior Putney Cloos.

The Regis Bowl is a tune-up for New England Championships next weekend on the Charles, which could potentially qualify the team for women's Nationals in Tulane.

"The competition will be a little bit tougher at New England's but it's still the Charles River, so we have a home-court advantage," Stearns said.

The races will be held at MIT.