BRIEF: Sailing Sees Postseason Opportunity Slip Away

For the three seniors competing in this weekend's regatta, their final hurrah was far from the best performance of their careers.

In the final week of the regular season, the Harvard sailing team was unable to clinch a postseason berth at the New England Dinghy Championships in Hanover, N.H. after posting twelfth place result in the 18 school field. A top-nine finish was required for the Crimson to qualify for the ICSA Nationals Championships at San Diego Yacht Club in June. Harvard’s 78-point performance did not surpass the 65-point threshold achieve such a result.

Sailing in FJs and Z420s in the bi-divisional Coast Guard Alumni Bowl, the Crimson was led by fellow seniors, skipper Andrew Mollerus and crew Sydney Karnovsky in the A-Division, while senior skipper Marek Zaleski and junior crew Julia Lord sailed in the B-Division. The group, who all competed in the event last year, was unable to best their previous sixth place finish from one year ago.

With each division only sailing four total races each on the weekend, the stakes were high for each individual event. Mollerus and Karnovsky were unable to take advantage from the high-risk situation. Although posting sixth and seventh place finishes in their middle two races, their first and final results were 13th and 14th, respectively. Their 40 total points were good enough for 12th among the division.

In the B-Division, Zaleski and Lord were able to finish on a high note. After scoring 11th, 11th, and 12th in their first three races of the weekend, they produced a fourth place result in their fourth and final event. By the end of the weekend, the duo had put forth a tenth place, 38-point performance. Although tying with ninth place Bowdoin in aggregate score, Zaleski and Lord fell short on a tiebreaker based on the number of high place finishes.

Roger Williams won the day with their 41-point result, after taking the lead from Coast Guard Academy in the very final race of the weekend. Boston University, Coast Guard, Boston College, Yale, Tufts, Dartmouth, Connecticut College, and Brown rounded out the qualifying schools.

Following this result, Harvard will look to make a name of itself at the ICSA National Women’s Championship from in late May, the only postseason regatta that the Crimson qualified for this season.

—Staff writer Jackson Reynolds can be reached at jacksonreynolds@college.harvard.edu.