Weekend Regattas See Crimson Near Top

With the waters of the Charles River littered with visitors for Head of the Charles weekend, Harvard’s other aquatic teams traveled to different northeastern locales to compete in a trio of regattas. The No. 2 co-eds and the No. 4 women’s squad earned three top-10 finishes, with the women having the best weekend, finishing in second place at the team’s two-day regatta.

WOMEN’S STU NELSON TROPHY

The Crimson sent five sailors to Connecticut College for the Stu Nelson Trophy, which took place Saturday and Sunday in New London, Conn. And while the day belonged to St. Mary’s, which took first in both divisions on its way to a dominating win, Harvard was next on the list, earning the sailing team’s third second-place finish of the season.

The Crimson took third in A-division behind sophomore skipper Megan Watson and senior crew Christina Dahlman, who beat out Yale, Boston College, MIT, and host-Connecticut College, among other schools. Tufts followed St. Mary’s in the division.

“We did well, and it was in really challenging conditions,” Dahlman said. “The conditions were breezy, shifty, and something we’re not really used to sailing on the Charles.”

In B-division, sophomore skipper Roberta Steele led the way, sharing the time in her boat with senior crews Emily Simon and Cassandra Niemi.

The effort by the women was good enough to allow Harvard to qualify for the Atlantic Coast Championships (ACCs) to be held next month. It’s the third straight year the women have qualified for the event.

“I think it makes a big statement for our team,” Dahlman said of qualifying for the ACCs. “We have a young women’s team, and there are a lot of good New England women’s teams. This is a big statement for us at the end of the fall season.”

RUDOLPH OBERG TROPHY

The single regatta not related to the Head of the Charles that took place in Cambridge this weekend was hosted by Northeastern and MIT, and it featured 18 teams in three divisions competing in the Rudolph Oberg Trophy on Saturday and Sunday.

Freshman skipper Drew Robb and freshman crew Hyunjin Kim took ninth place in A-division for the Crimson, racing 17 times in two days. It was a similar performance in B-division, where the freshmen tandem of skipper Andrew Flynn and crew Lauren Brants took eleventh for Harvard. Finally, in C-division, freshman skipper Liz Powers and senior crew Ashley Nathanson earned the Crimson’s best finish at the race, taking seventh place overall in the division.

Host MIT won the event, with Boston College, Brown, Boston University and Connecticut College rounding out the top five.

SHERMAN HOYT TROPHY

Eighteen schools traveled to Brown University to compete in one of the biggest co-ed regattas of the weekend, the Sherman Hoyt Trophy in Providence, R.I. A total of 22 races were on the docket, and in A-division, senior skipper Clay Johnson sailed along with senior crew Kristen Lynch and junior crew Elyse Dolbec to a tenth-place Crimson finish. St. Mary’s won that division, too, but in B, junior skipper Kyle Kovacs, sophomore crew Jon Garrity and Dolbec earned fourth place. Overall, Boston College’s 136 points were just enough to hold St. Mary’s, which tallied 137 points, to a second place finish.

“We sailed really well on Saturday, when it was pretty windy and we were shuffling people,” Kovacs said. “There was a breeze from three different directions on Sunday, and Clay and I were both hitting other boats. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t end up winning, but it’s still good to qualify for the ACCs.”

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