Palmer and Wareham missed the A-division top three by three points (photo courtesy Gil Talbot).

SEATTLE—Juniors Alan Palmer and Meghan Wareham placed fourth in the A division to lead the Harvard sailing team to a fifth-place finish at the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Western Semi Finals Saturday and Sunday at Sail Sand Point, earning a berth in the ICSA Coed Dinghy National Championship.

Palmer and Wareham totaled 56 points in 10 races, while John Stokes, Quincy  Bock and Michelle Konstadt registered 60 points to finish sixth in the B division. Harvard's 116 total points were four more than fourth-place Old Dominion and nine fewer than Hobart/William Smith in sixth.

“We sailed pretty well,” said head coach Mike O'Connor. “We proved that we have the speed and boathandling to compete with the top teams, which is important going forward. We made some errors that prevented us from reaching the top three, and if we can eliminate those we're confident we can sail with anybody.”

The top nine teams in the 18-school field advanced to the national regatta, to be held June 1-3 at Wisconsin. Yale totaled 89 points to edge St. Mary's by two and beat third-place Roger Williams by nine. Salve Regina, SUNY Maritime and Stanford claimed the final three qualifying spots.

Palmer and Wareham won three times, including two of the last three races of the weekend, and finished outside the top half of the field just once. Harvard's B-division entry registered a pair of wins and six top-four finishes.