Crimson Dominates Qualifying Races

For Harvard juniors Sloan Devlin and Genny Tulloch, it’s time to pack up the lasers and head west to Minnesota.

Devlin and Tulloch finished first and second, respectively, at the New England Women’s Singlehanded Championships held at the Coast Guard in New London, Conn., last Sunday.

On the strength of their stellar performances guiding the lasers—the type of boat used in the singlehanded competition—through the choppy waters, they qualified for nationals, which will be held on Lake Minnetonka in Minnetonka, Minn.

Tulloch won the first of eight races, and followed it up with a third place finish to remain just one point back of the overall leader Annie Davidson of Brown early in the competition. Devlin posted fifth and second place results in her first two races, sitting in third place overall, four points off the pace.

The trio continued to battle it out at the top of the leaderboard until Tulloch recorded a ninth place finish in the fifth race, falling nine points behind with just three races to go. Meanwhile, Devlin continued to post top five finishes, allowing her to stay within four points of Davidson after five runs.

Entering the final race, Devlin remained down four to Davidson and Tulloch still found herself well back of the lead. But, Davidson had trouble in that last race, finishing 14th—the only non-top 10 finish of any of the five national qualifiers—and opening the door for the Harvard women.

“Entering the final race, my main motivation was getting to nationals,” Devlin said. “But at the first mark, I noticed [Davidson] was behind, so I wanted to maintain my position.”

Tulloch and Devlin responded, closing out the final run with a 1-2 finish, respectively, propelling Devlin into the top spot with 29 total points with Tulloch following right behind in second.

“After Genny won the last race, we looked over at each other and said, ‘Wow, did we just do this?’” Devlin said. “Since we qualified three for nationals last year, it’s become a source of pride to do well at this event.”

Despite the rocky finish, Davidson still easily qualified in third place, 11 points clear of the first sailor not to make nationals.

Harvard junior Jess Baker finished tenth in the championships. Baker overcame a rough start, one which saw her place out of the top 10 in four of the first five races, and finished strong, logging a seventh and 10th place finish, before completing the final race in fifth.

“I’d never sailed on that course before, so as the regatta went on, I got more used to the conditions,” Baker said. “It was a new situation for me, because I haven’t sailed these kinds of boats (lasers) in a while.”

All three Harvard women qualified for the New England Championships at MIT’s course on the Charles River on Saturday.

Sophomore Clay Johnson and freshman Kyle Kovacs participated in the men’s singlehanded qualifier at Connecticut College last weekend. Johnson and Kovacs came in first and second overall, respectively, and they qualified for the New England Championships to be held this weekend.

Both men dominated from the outset, as Johnson finished second and third in the first two races with Kovacs posting a first and a fourth place result to put tie the duo atop the leaderboard.

“Kyle and I are laser sailors, so our boat handling skills are pretty good,” Johnson said. “We had great starts, but for Kyle, a freshman, to come in here and start like he did was incredible.”

Kovacs would add two seconds and third to close out the five race slate, and Johnson went on to record two wins and a third place finish to take the overall title.

“We tried really hard to remain consistent, and we knew we had to avoid having a bad race,” Johnson said. “Even if we had a bad race, we still tried to catch as many boats as possible.”

If they follow up the women’s strong performance at the New England Championships with a couple top five finishes, they too will be headed to Lake Minnetonka for nationals in late October.

The doublehanded squads were also in action last weekend, as the Harvard squad competed in the Hood Trophy race at Tufts. The Crimson finished 14th overall, partially because the singlehanded competitors had to take it easy, due to their upcoming qualifying races.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu