FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR RUNNER-UP: Harvard skipper and captain caps off impressive career with All-American season

The season couldn’t have begun better for Sloan Devlin.

After skippering the B-division boat for the Harvard women’s sailing team to a national title only a few months before, the former co-captain of the Crimson spent the fall winning her third consecutive New England Women’s Singlehanded Championship, all while preparing for her Rhodes Scholarship finalist interviews. She had already almost won the Quantam Women’s Sailor of the Year award as a junior, finishing second, and she had already been named an All-American twice.

Now, as her career comes to a close, she can reflect on winning her third such award.

“I’m happy for both of us,” Devlin said, referring to her crew, co-captain Christina Dahlman. Although Devlin has the share of the hardware, Dahlman has been along for the ride—literally—virtually every step of the way.

“This time it’s just kind of recognition for all the work we’ve put in,” she said. “It was an excellent feeling.”

“We make a great team,” Dahlman said. “We had a lot of fun, and two years of working together helped us build a really strong relationship.”

And despite the fact that the Harvard women only finished eighth at Nationals, the Crimson made up five spots on the final day, as the Devlin and Dalhman crew took third. Fittingly, the very last race of the regatta saw their boat where it often is—at the head of the pack.

“Leading for most of the last race was awesome,” Devlin said. “It was definitely a highlight to end the regatta.”

Not only the regatta, but an impressive career, too.

—MALCOM A. GLENN