CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard Sailing is through to the Round of 8 at the 2024 ICSA Open Team Racing National Championship on the Charles River. A weather delay on Thursday pushed the schedule back, but an efficient Friday made up for lost time.
Day 1 of the championship was mostly a waiting game as the wind failed to gain any speed until the early afternoon. And once racing began, the wind quickly took a break for another couple of hours, stranding sailors on the MIT Sailing Pavilion dock.
The conditions improved in the late afternoon, allowing competition to resume and once it did, Harvard went out and defeated the U.S. Coast Guard (1-2-5), MIT (1-2-3), Tufts (1-2-5) and Tulane (1-2-3). Representing the Crimson were
Justin Callahan and
Kennedy Leehealey,
Lachlain McGranahan and
Marbella Marlo, and
Mitchell Callahan and
Alexandra Dorofeev.
After one day of sailing, which ended around 8 p.m. ET, Harvard found itself tied with Yale (4-0), with Roger Williams rounding out the undefeated group at 3-0. Stanford (3-1) and College of Charleston (2-1) lurked behind with Round-of-16 action set to continue on Friday.
A new day brought better conditions, allowing for the 15 other flights to be completed. The Crimson got off to a good start, defeating Georgetown (1-2-5) and St. Mary's College of Maryland (1-2-5), but then encountered some trouble. Harvard wound up dropping three of its next four matchups, falling to Stanford (1-4-6), Dartmouth (3-4-6) and Brown (2-3-6), with a win over College of Charleston (2-3-4) wedged between.
The Crimson, however, finished with a flourish, rattling off five consecutive victories to polish off the Round of 16. Harvard took down Navy (1-4-5), Boston College (1-2-5), Yale (1-2-4), Roger Williams (1-3-5) and Wisconsin (1-2-3) to finish with a 12-3 record, one decision behind RWU (13-2) and one win ahead of Yale (11-4), Brown (11-4), Dartmouth (11-4) and Stanford (11-4). The Crimson's performance secured its spot in the Round of 8.
Following a sailoff to get into the Round of 8 between U.S. Coast Guard, Georgetown and College of Charleston (USCG, CofC advanced), the top eight got on the water with a spot in the final four on the line.
Harvard opened with three convincing wins to start – a 1-2-3 vs. the Coast Guard, a 1-2-5 vs. Dartmouth and a 1-2-3 vs. Yale. The Crimson's last decision proved to be the final one of the day with the sun setting on Boston.
Harvard will enter the championship's final day in the lead, sporting a 14.50-3 record, just ahead of Roger Williams (14-3) and Brown (13-4). Yale (12-6) and Dartmouth (11-6) round out the top five.
The final seven flights of the Round of 8 will commence on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., and will be followed by the Round of 4. ESPN+ will air the event live from the Charles River.
