CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard Sailing began a busy two-week stretch this past weekend by competing in three regattas and emerged with a trio of top-5 performances. The Crimson opened with a fifth-place showing at the Central Series 4 Fleet Race and then followed it with a fourth-place effort at the NEISA Women's Team Racing Championship/Legler Trophy and a runner-up performance at the Thompson Trophy Team Race.
Central Series 4 Fleet Race | Cambridge, Mass.
Strong and shifty winds on the Charles River limited the regatta to just four races on Saturday as the Crimson finished fifth of 16 teams at the Bentley-hosted event at Harvard's boathouse. In the A-division for Harvard was
Caroline Straw-
Antonia Kolb, with
James Bergstrom-
Mizuki Yashiro handling the B-division. The regatta marked the Crimson's first fleet race of the spring campaign.
Straw-Kolb improved as the day went on, opening with a seventh- and a sixth-place finish before ending with top-5 performances in Race 3 and 4 (fourth place, second place). The duo completed the day with 19 points, which was good for fourth in the A-division. Bergstrom-Yashiro, meanwhile, registered a finish line of 8-4-6-9 to end with 27 points, which ranked sixth in the B-division. Overall, the Crimson posted a team score of 46 and finished behind Boston College (9), Babson (34), Mass Maritime (42) and Boston University (45).
NEISA Women's Team Racing Championship/Legler Trophy | Medford, Mass.
The Crimson put itself in position to capture the Legler Trophy after one day of action on Upper Mystic Lake, but fell short in its bid to secure NEISA's automatic bid to the ICSA Women's Team Racing National Championship. Representing Harvard were skippers
Sophia Montgomery,
Kate Danielson and
Zoey Ziskind. The trio was supported by
Katherine Shin,
Amelie Zucker,
JJ Drummond and
Peyton Hadfield.
Harvard completed Saturday's action in a three-way tie for second place at 8-4 (Bowdoin, Tufts), just a half-race behind Yale (9-4) and one win behind Brown (9-3) in the team standings. Sunday, meanwhile, did not have the same kind of racing cadence as the day before, with the wind struggling to blow in a meaningful way. After the Crimson split four races (W vs. MIT, Tufts; L vs. Brown, Yale) to complete the Top 8, a top-six round was scuttled in favor of a no-rotation final four, which Harvard went 1-2 (W vs. Brown; L vs. Yale, Tufts).
At the end of the regatta, the Crimson finished with an 11-8 mark and was one win behind Brown (12-7) and Tufts (12-7), all while posting its best team finish since 2023 (second). Yale emerged with the victory, going 15-4 across both days.
Thompson Trophy Team Race | New London, Conn.
Harvard's coed team had its six-regatta win streak snapped despite tying for the best record at the event. The Crimson rolled out skippers
Justin Callahan,
Mitchell Callahan and
Robby Meek, and crew
Aidan Pesce,
Christina Chen,
Rosella Irfan and
Jacob Posner. The group went 14-1 across two days, but fell in a head-to-head to Stanford, which ultimately proved costly. The Cardinal claimed victory at 14-1, with its only misstep being a loss to MIT.
On Saturday, the Crimson opened with 11 straight wins, with nine of those decisions featuring a 1-2 finish. Harvard ended the day, however, with the aforementioned loss to Stanford, 4-5-6. Even with the defeat, the Crimson entered Sunday just a half-win out of first place as the Cardinal completed Day 1 with a 12-1 record.
The weather on Sunday did not allow for much racing and subsequently, thwarted any plan of a successful rally by Harvard. The Crimson took down Yale, 1-2-5, and Tufts and Boston College by identical 1-2-3 scores to provide its final record. Stanford, meanwhile, raced just twice and defeated Tulane (1-2-5) and Connecticut College (1-2-4).
Up Next
Harvard will send sailors to compete at four different regattas next weekend, April 18-19. The Crimson will appear at the NEISA Women's and Open Fleet Racing Championships (Women's – Reed Trophy at New London, Conn.; Open – Coast Guard Alumni Bowl at Cranston, R.I.), the Boston Dinghy Cup Fleet Race (Charles River) and the Morris Trophy Fleet Race (Charles River).
