Schedule Ending For Full Team

As the spring season finally hit and the weather heated up, the Harvard sailing team competed in its final full weekend of competition of the spring season. While the No. 6 women’s team competed for a spot at nationals later in the spring, the No. 4 co-eds sailed in four regattas, finishing in places ranging from fourth to eighth.

WOMEN’S NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIP

The Crimson was at Connecticut College for the Reed Trophy, the women’s New England Championship. With the top five teams receiving an invitation to nationals, Harvard’s goal was simple. The team’s second-place finish was simply an added bonus.

Tufts edged out the Crimson by four points to take the victory, while Boston College, Dartmouth and Boston University took the remaining nationals invites.

“Both days had fairly light winds, and we had some wind delays both days,” sophomore captain Megan Watson said. “There was some current, which we’re not used to sailing in, but I think we did a good job of managing it.”

Skipper Watson and senior crew Christina Dahlman took third-place for A-division, while the sophomore tandem of skipper Roberta Steele and crew Lauren Brants guided Harvard to the win in B-division.

“Roberta and Lauren had an amazing second day,” Watson said. “Christina and I had some tough races the second day, but knowing Roberta and Lauren did well took the pressure off of us.”

All four of the regatta’s competitors were also named to the women’s All-New England team, which proved especially sweet for Dahlman, who recently returned to the water after missing time due to a shoulder injury.

“She performed above and beyond what we expected,” Watson said.

MORRIS TROPHY

Boston University hosted the fourth annual Morris Trophy on Saturday and Sunday, where the Crimson came away with sixth-place in an 18-team field.

Senior skipper Matt Knowles and senior crew Emily Simon scored 76 points for the team in their seventh-place showing, while sophomore skipper Jon Garrity and senior crew Ashley Nathanson finished in fifth-place for Harvard.

The host-Terriers, Yale, South Florida, Boston College and Bowdoin took the top five spots.

THOMPSON TROPHY

The Crimson once again sent its top fleet to the US Coast Guard Academy on Saturday and Sunday, this time for the Thompson Trophy. Harvard raced 32 times over the two days, finishing fifth overall with 255 points, just four more than Connecticut College in fourth and seven more than Yale in third.

For the Crimson, it was a tale of two days.

“The first day went very well for us,” junior crew Elyse Dolbec said. “The breeze was tricky but we were able to figure it out. The forecast was unusual, a condition we’ve never seen before.”

Senior skipper Clay Johnson and senior crew Kristen Lynch helped Harvard’s A-division to a fifth-place finish, while junior captain skipper Kyle Kovacs skippered B-division to fourth place with the help of Dolbec.

“Sunday was different, the conditions were sort of harder to figure out,” Dolbec said. “We had a few rough sets, and a few good ones, too.”

The Coast Guard is also the site of the dingy nationals qualifying, scheduled to take place the weekend after next.

“Hopefully we made all our mistakes this weekend and we won’t be making any more two weeks from now,” Dolbec said.

MIT INVITE

The Crimson sailed at the Sunday-only MIT invite, where most teams sent two teams to compete. Harvard’s B-boat took eighth-place thanks to the efforts of two freshmen, skipper Ali Beyer and crew Michelle Konstadt. The A-boat finished 16th on the strength of freshman skipper James Fish and freshman crew Winston Yan. Maine Maritime dominated in the regatta, with the school’s A and B boats taking first and third-places, respectively.

PRIDDY TROPHY

The freshman-only Priddy Trophy at Mass Maritime saw 17 teams compete in a single division, with the Crimson taking fourth-place overall. Skipper Drew Robb and crew Hyunjin Kim sailed for Harvard, scoring 73 points on the weekend. Roger Williams, Vermont, and Boston College finished 1-2-3.

“We didn’t sail as well as we would have liked to,” Kim said. “We had higher expectations.”

Only 12 total races took place, thanks mostly to a very light breeze and some uncharacteristically calm conditions.

“We didn’t get off as many races as we would have liked to, because the race committee was kind of slow,” Kim said. “I think that we were sad because that was our last regatta of the season and we didn’t perform our best.”

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