As Fall Winds Down, Team Looks Sharp

Only three weeks remain for the No. 3 co-ed Harvard sailing team before the end of the fall season, and after nearly two months on the water, one might expect the Crimson to be a bit tired.

After last weekend’s performance, however, Harvard looks as fresh as ever.

The No. 10 women’s squad joined the co-eds in earning two second-place finishes and one third-place showing for the Crimson over the weekend, in what might have been the best team performance of the year.

WOMEN’S VICTORIAN COFFEE URN

The women played host to a regatta for the first time in weeks, competing in the Women’s Victorian Coffee Urn on the Charles River on Saturday. Sunday’s winds proved to be too much, ending the regatta after just a day’s events. Harvard was one of 17 schools competing, racing 16 times on the way to a second-place finish, seven points behind Navy.

“Saturday it was raining all day, so that was pretty miserable,” sophomore Roberta Steele said. “But once you’re completely wet to the point where you can’t get any more wet, it’s fine.”

The A division saw sophomore skipper Megan Watson in a boat with senior crew Christina Dahlman. The tandem sailed to a fourth-place finish for the division, finishing behind Charleston, Boston College, and Tufts after the duo’s eight races.

In B division, three women sailed well in guiding Harvard to second-place in the division, also behind Navy. Steele handled skipper duties, while senior Cassandra Niemi and sophomore Christina Cordeiro each participated in four races at crew. Niemi joined the boat for the first four races to try to combat the stronger winds, while Codeiro, who usually sails with Steele, returned to her spot once the winds died down for the final four races.

The races served as a qualifier for the Atlantic Coast Championships for some teams, but the Crimson’s qualification for the event last week made this week’s action less taxing.

“The regatta was mostly important for the women’s ACCs, so it wasn’t a big stressful regatta for us,” Steele said. “It was still good to get to sail with both Cassandra and Christina, though.”

NICKERSON TROPHY

The Nickerson Trophy in Burlington, Vt. was the home of the New England Freshman Championship, where Harvard finished third overall. Brown and Boston College took first and second, respectively. Skipper Drew Robb and crews Hynnjin Kim and Kate Harris were the team’s freshmen in A-division, while skipper Liz Powers and crews Michelle Konstadt and Alex Bick handled B-division responsibilities.

Though a number of the freshmen have had limited experience on the waters this season, it was the first and only all-freshman regatta of the fall season.

SCHELL TROPHY

MIT hosted the 66th Professor Schell Trophy over the weekend, featuring 18 schools from the New England area. Harvard’s other second-place finish of the weekend came here, with the Crimson finishing with just eight more total points than Roger Williams University in the regatta.

Captain Clay Johnson led the way in A division, sailing as skipper in a boat that alternated three crews: seniors Kristen Lynch and Emily Simon, as well as sophomore Jon Garrity. The boat earned a sixth-place finish in its division, behind Roger Williams, MIT, Yale, Dartmouth and Connecticut College.

Junior Kyle Kovacs skippered B division to a first place finish, while junior Elyse Dolbec, Garrity and Niemi crewed along the way. Eight teams at the event, including Harvard, will also represent New England at the Atlantic Coast Dinghy Championship in two weeks in Providence, R.I.

With the Victorian Coffee Urn finished after one day, the women headed over to MIT to catch some of the co-ed regatta.

“Sunday was too windy for us, so we didn’t sail,” Steele said of the women’s race. “But it was nice to watch some of the co-ed team.”

—Staff writer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu.