Sailing Gets Mixed Results

For the Harvard co-ed sailing team, a national championship berth was on the line at the New England Championships this past weekend.

But in the end, the winds just weren't blowin' the right way.

Needing to finish in the top four to qualify for the nationals, the co-ed team ended up in ninth place.

"We expected that we would be among the top six,' Harvard Coach Mike Horn said. "We started out with some difficulty, however, and struggled to get back near the top."

While ninth place may sound low (the regatta had sixteen schools) the Crimson was not far off pace. Only 30 points separated Harvard from the fourth-place finish it needed, while in contrast, the tenth-place team was 50 points behind the Crimson.

"The top teams sailed out of their minds," junior commadore Chuck Chai said. "It sounds like our performance was worse than it really was, but we were close to the top four."

Sailing for the Crimson in the "A" division were freshman Bret Davis with sophomore Rachel Garfield, and freshmen Molly Merrill and Chris Cannon.

In the "B" division were junior Nick DuBois and freshman Katie Hartwell.

Women Keep Winning

The co-eds weren't the only Harvard boats in action this past weekend.

The women's team fared better than its co-ed counterparts. Fresh off securing a birth for the nationals two weekends ago, the Crimson kept up the winnings ways.

Saturday, at MIT, in the Laser Radial competition, three Harvard sailors finished in the top five: senior Jen Dewey came in first, freshman Julie Coldwell took third and freshman Lian Fichter rounded out the top spots.

On Sunday the competition was moved to Harvard for the Marchiando Trophy. Once again the Crimson was the class of the field.

Harvard took first in the team competition. Racing were three sets of partners; seniors Jen Drohan and Michelle Morphew, Coldwell and sophomore Alexis Topjian, and Dewey and freshmen Sarah Krause.

Coming up in the near future is the nationals for the women. With a bit of luck and some nice tail winds, maybe the Crimson can come home with some hardware.