Crimson Co-eds Earn Championship Spot

With only a couple of weeks left in its fall season before its week-long postseason, the Harvard co-ed sailing team clinched a spot in the Atlantic Coast Championship with an impressive showing at the 70th Professor Erwin Schell Trophy regatta, ensuring that next week will not be its last week of competition.

The Crimson co-eds took second place in the Erwin Schell Trophy, hosted by nearby MIT, finishing ahead of all other 17 schools aside from Ivy League rival Dartmouth.

Harvard also hosted the Victorian Urn intersectional on the Charles River, sending a contingent from the women’s squad that placed 14th out of 18 schools.

The Crimson got special treats, as alumni from the Harvard sailing team served as judges on the water for both regattas. In the Erwin Schell Trophy, former Crimson captain John Stokes ’11 heard protests and redress requests throughout the weekend, while in the Victorian Urn, Megan Watson ’09, also a former captain of the Harvard sailing team, took the waters to ensure that competition would sail smoothly.

70th PROFESSOR ERWIN SCHELL TROPHY

The Crimson may not have had to travel a long way to compete in the 70th Professor Erwin Schell Trophy, but the results of the regatta will go a long way in showing the success of this past season if the team can prove to be a strong competitor at this year’s Atlantic Coast Championship.

The tandem of Kopp and sophomore crew Sarah Pierson, a duo that has been successful all throughout the season, anchored the A-division for Harvard. Freshman Reid Bergsund also served as crew for Kopp, taking over Pierson’s duties for the fifth through 10th races of the regatta. The trio of sailors took second place in its division with 116 points, finishing in the top five spots in 11 of its 18 races. Its only miscue on the weekend came on a did not finish in the ninth race of the event.

The B-division boat sent out by the Crimson was just as strong as it’s A-division counterparts, as the duo of co-captain Alex Jumper and junior Emily Lambert took fourth place with 112 points. The two have been sailing together for over a year, and their comfort level with each other showed in grabbing 10 top-five finishes out of 18 on the weekend.

Harvard faced stiff competition from the rest of the crowd, but none more so than its rivals from the Ancient Eight.

The top four places in the regatta were all filled with Ivy League schools, with only 12 points separating first and fourth place. The Big Green sneaked by the Crimson’s balanced attack with a strong showing from its B-division team, ending the weekend only two points ahead of Harvard total of 228. Yale finished just two points behind Harvard, and Brown wrapped up the Ivy League domination with a score of 238 points.

THE VICTORIAN URN

With a weekend full of crazy breezes, the Crimson women’s squad hosted the Victorian Urn regatta on the Charles River.

While the more senior members of the sailing team earned a spot in the postseason, the Harvard women’s team—which took over the reigns for this regatta on its home waters—did not qualify for its Atlantic Coast Championship.

The A-division sophomore duo of Morgan Russom and Isabel Ruane finished in 14th place out of the field of 18 with a score of 149. The two had five top-ten finishes out of the 12 races on the weekend.

B-division racing was taken care of by sophomore Caitlin Watson and senior Caroline Lowe, their 154 points good for a 14th place finish matching their A-division counterparts.

Dartmouth took the top spot in the Victorian Urn as well, while the Crimson finished in 14th place overall, taking the tie-breaker over the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

The Harvard sailing team has just one week left in its fall season before the ACC championships, and the squad is confident that it will be ready to compete with the rest of the top competition in the Northeast.

—Staff writer Ricky Liu can be reached at ricky.liu12@college.harvard.edu.