Crimson Ladies Nab Fifth At Yale

With the Charles River full of crews last weekend, the Harvard sailing team traveled all over the Northeast to compete in four regattas.

While the co-ed and women’s team both posted solid results, finishing ninth and fifth respectively, neither was able to lock down a spot in next month’s ACC Championship.

Meanwhile, some of the Crimson’s less experienced sailors got the chance to compete in some regattas closer to home, highlighted by a third-place finish at the MIT Invite.

YALE WOMEN’S INTERSECTIONAL

Harvard’s top women headed to New Haven to compete in the Yale Women’s Intersectional, a two-division regatta. Bolstered by an excellent performance from the A-division pair of senior captain Megan Watson and sophomore Meghan Wareham, the Crimson placed fifth overall in the 19-team field.

“We had a few bad races, but I felt good about it,” Wareham said. We were able to keep up with some good teams. I had a lot of fun.”

Skipper Watson and crew Wareham claimed third place in the A division, posting very consistent results throughout the regatta’s 12 races. The pair placed in the top 10 in 10 races, and the top five in six.

Harvard also had to endure windier-than-usual conditions on Sunday.

“We were hiking harder on Sunday,” Wareham said. “It was definitely my first physically exhausting regatta. We hadn’t sailed in that kind of breeze in 420s yet.”

The Crimson was represented in the B division by a trio of freshmen—skipper Emily Lambert and crews Lilla Cosgrove and Annie DeAngelo.

It was the first major collegiate regatta for Cosgrove.

“Lilla has been awesome so far,” Wareham said. “I was really glad she got to sail because the previous weekend she came with us to Annapolis but she didn’t get a chance to sail. We’re really excited for her.”

The rookies sailed to an eighth-place finish in their division.

Despite Harvard’s success, the squad missed out on a berth to ACCs, the major end-of-season regatta, by just three points. The top two New England teams in the competition, Boston College and Yale, locked up their spots on Sunday.

“It’s slightly annoying, but I’m pretty confident that we’ll qualify in the next few weekends,” Wareham said.

The Bulldogs finished with 184 points to the Crimson’s 187. St. Mary’s won the overall competition, amassing just 136 points.

NAVY FALL INTERSECTIONAL

The top co-ed sailors spent the weekend in Annapolis, Md. for the Navy Fall Intersectional.

Harvard wound up ninth in the competitive four-division regatta.

“It’s a very competitive regatta, one of the bigger ones in the fall,” said senior captain Jon Garrity. “The competition was good, but we definitely underperformed. We were hoping for a stronger finish to bring us up in the rankings.”

In the two doublehanded divisions, the Crimson struggled a bit, placing 13th in the A division and ninth in the B division.

Sophomore skipper Alan Palmer and senior crew Lauren Brants sailed in the A boat, with skipper Garrity, along with junior crew Michelle Konstadt, helming the B boat.

The C and D divisions were Laser divisions, with the competitors sailing singlehandedly.

Junior Drew Robb competed in the C division, while sophomore Teddy Himler and freshman Jerry Tullo shared time in the D division.

Robb was the best performer for Harvard on the weekend, placing seventh in his division. The Crimson wound up eighth in the D division.

“We started off doing really poorly, and we kind of rallied in the afternoon of the first day,” Robb said. “We steadily moved up throughout the regatta.”

Despite the team’s disappointing performance, Harvard got a chance to show off its depth last weekend.

“We’re not necessarily as talented at the top as we have been in years past, but the fact that we can put out four strong skippers…I don’t think [the four divisions] hurt us,” Garrity said. “I think execution was the biggest problem.”

St. Mary’s was the overall winner at the intersectional, with 563 total points.

The co-ed squad will also have another shot to qualify for ACCs this weekend in the Hoyt Trophy.

“It would be great to qualify this weekend," Garrity said. "The fallback is the following weekend on our home waters."

MIT INVITE

Four of the Crimson’s less experienced sailors posted the team’s best results on the weekend with a third-place finish in the MIT Invite on Saturday.

Sophomore skipper Matt Donelan and junior crew Katherine Harris were second in the A division, while sophomore skipper Colin Santangelo and freshman crew Alexandra Jumper were fourth in the B division.

BOSTON UNIVERSITY INVITE

Harvard was hurt by penalties and unfinished races in the Boston University Invite on Sunday, mustering an eighth-place finish.

Freshman crew Arthur Bartolozzi and junior crew Mark Rinaldi placed third in the A division. Skipper Jumper and sophomore crew Florence On were 12th in the B division.

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.