Sailing Produces Mediocre Results

A weekend of strong winds and false starts ended with middling results for the Harvard sailing team in its second week of competition.

The Crimson sailed in three different regattas on Saturday and Sunday. The women’s team headed north to Dartmouth, placing 13th in the Mrs. Hurst Bowl regatta. Meanwhile, co-ed squads finished 10th at the MIT-hosted Hatch Brown Trophy on the Charles River and fourteenth at the Nevin’s Trophy regatta in Kings Point, N.Y.

“Overall, it was a pretty tough weekend,” Harvard coach Mike O’Connor said. “I’m pleased with the effort of our team, but we need to make sure that we can maintain this level of effort and increase the acuity of our focus on a daily basis.”

O’Connor also noted that the teams’ configurations are still “very much a work in progress.” The young team must adjust this fall due to the absence of All-American crew Sarah Pierson, whose work commitments have forced her to miss weekend regattas. As a result, Harvard has been forced to shuffle its best lineups.

O’Connor emphasized the need to take the season one step at a time.

“Right now, we’re looking at next week. We need to focus on preparing ourselves as best we can for whatever regattas we have,” O’Connor said. “We don’t have enough experience or talent yet to focus on the big picture; we need to go day by day and really work together as a team before we can focus on some larger goals.”

MRS. HURST BOWL

Hanover’s Mascoma Lake provided some challenges for the Harvard women, as the Crimson finished 13th in the 22-school field with an overall score of 277 points.

On Saturday, the duo of juniors Morgan Russom and co-captain Isabel Ruane opened the regatta on pace for a top-10 finish in Division A as strong breezes swept across the water. But the pair ended up with 138 points and a 13th place finish after a disqualification on Sunday.

The Crimson’s Division B boat started slow but enjoyed moderate progress throughout the weekend. The trio of juniors Caitlin Watson, Jacquelyn Cooley, and freshman Sophie Bermudez placed fourteenth in the Division with 139 points.

Meanwhile, thanks to a dominant 40-point performance in Division B, Yale scored 133 overall points to walk away with its fourth regatta title of the young season. The University of Rhode Island finished atop Division A with 78 points.

HATCH BROWN TROPHY

A group of Harvard co-ed sailors raced on the familiar Charles River to pick up a 10th-place finish in the 18-school Hatch Brown Trophy.

Senior Jason Michas and sophomore Emma Smith came away with Harvard’s sole race victory of the weekend, placing first in the 11th Division B race of the regatta. After 15 races, the pair finished 10th in the Division B standings with 143 points.

In Division A, sophomore Michael Drumm and junior Alma Lafler combined for 159 points and a 12th-place finish. The freshman pair of Sydney Karnovsky and Andrew Mollerus collected 157 points for an 11th-place finish in Division C.

On Saturday the team struggled to manage clean starts in unpredictable conditions.

“It was hard racing,” said Karnovsky. “It was hard to figure out where you wanted to be to catch the right shift.”

NEVIN’S TROPHY

The Crimson also found tough competition off the coast of Long Island. With 511 overall points, Harvard placed 14th among 20 schools at the Nevin’s Trophy regatta in Kings Point, N.Y.

Sophomores Gram Slattery and Richard Bergsund and junior Alice Kenney tallied 197 points in Division A, good enough for 15th place. The team struggled to crack the top 10 in races throughout the weekend but produced a strong fourth-place showing in the 16th and final race of the regatta.

Over in Division B, sophomores Brian Drumm, Luke O’Connor, and Bergsund amassed 147 points to collect an 11th-place finish. A second-place performance in their sixth race tempered a poor start in their first race of the regatta.

Freshman Marek Zaleski manned the single-handed boat for the Crimson in Division C. Zaleski scored 167 points to place 11th in his solo collegiate debut.

At the top of the leader board, Georgetown cruised to an easy overall victory with 273 total points after notching wins in Divisions A and C. Brown’s boat placed first in Division B.