Women Lead the Way in First Weekend on the Water

The Harvard sailing team opened its year-round campaign last weekend in rather familiar waters, as the Crimson traveled to four regattas throughout New England. With the graduation of many key contributors from last season, Harvard is looking to use these early-season fall events to ready itself for the championship portion of its schedule in the spring and summer.

“The seniors last year were huge assets to the team,” junior crew Grace Charles said. “They provided great leadership and we will miss them, but we have many freshmen this season ready to step up. We weren’t able to have a preseason this year with school starting earlier, so the freshmen are going to have to adjust quickly.”

The women’s squad provided the highlight of the Crimson’s first weekend of competition, finishing fourth at the inaugural Women’s Antonia Schuman Trophy, hosted by MIT.

The co-ed team split its squad between the Harry Anderson Trophy, hosted by Yale, and the Central One Series regatta, hosted by Tufts, where Harvard took home ninth- and seventh-place team finishes, respectively. A freshman co-ed contingent also competed at the one-day Northeastern Invite at Boston University over the weekend.

“Our results were alright for our first weekend of competition,” Charles said. “We have three juniors studying abroad this fall, so we are going to have to balance everything a bit more until they return in the spring.”

WOMEN’S ANTONIA SCHUMAN TROPHY

Competing in its home waters on the Charles River, the Crimson women’s squad captured fourth place in both the A and B division of racing this weekend, leading to a fourth-place team effort overall.

In the A division, second-year skipper Emily Lambert, along with sophomore crew Alexandra Jumper, placed in the top five of the 12-school field 12 times, placing in the top three on eight occasions and winning four of the 24 division races on the weekend.

“It was nice to be sailing at home, and our Saturday went really well,” Jumper said. “We were in first place after the first day. There were some strange breeze directions on Sunday, as the wind was really shifty, but we are confident about the team this year and were happy with our effort this weekend.”

Senior captain and skipper Liz Powers and sophomore crew Marie Appel competed together in the B division, where the pair won seven contests, including five out of seven races at one point.

Harvard finished just 19 points out of the lead, finishing with a final tally of 234 points on the weekend. The regatta was won by the Jumbos from Tufts, who edged out the Connecticut College Camels by a single point.

HARRY ANDERSON TROPHY

The Crimson co-ed squad’s more experienced sailors made the trip to New Haven this weekend, where they finished a respectable ninth in a field of 20 teams at the Harry Anderson Trophy.

Racing in the A division, junior captain and skipper Alan Palmer, along with Charles, placed eighth. While the middle-of-the-pack finish might not have been exactly what the pair was hoping for coming into the weekend, their three top-three finishes in three of the first four contests, including a victory in the fourth race of the regatta, show that the duo can compete with New England’s best teams.

“Our first few races were definitely encouraging,” Charles said. “We tailed off on the second day, but we can use those races to show us what we need to work on in the future.”

Junior skipper Teddy Himler and senior crew Michelle Konstadt finished 13th in the B division of racing, with a pair of top-three efforts.

Harvard finished the weekend with a total of 235 points, well back of the host Bulldogs’ mark of 143, which earned Yale the overall team title on the weekend.

CENTRAL SERIES ONE

Competing on Upper Mystic Lake, the Crimson co-ed squad finished seventh in a field of 16 at the Central Series One regatta.

Junior skipper Colin Santangelo and freshman crew Sarah McCuskee paced Harvard’s efforts in the B division, where the duo placed fifth and won two of the first three races. Second-year skipper Brendan Kopp and freshman skipper Sam Millham took turns teaming up with sophomore crew William White to take home seventh place in the A division, with a lone victory on the weekend.

—Staff writer Thomas D. Hutchison can be reached at tdhutch@fas.harvard.edu.