Sailing lands first-place finish in NEISA Invitational
MIT ends weekend with Captain Hurst Bowl
The MIT sailing team, ranked No. 18 in the latest Coed College World Sailing poll, registered a first, sixth and eighth place finish at the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) Invitational, hosted by the Engineers, and finished fifth at the Captain Hurst Bowl, hosted by Dartmouth College over the weekend.
The NEISA Invitational, a one-day regatta, kicked off the perfect weekend in great sailing conditions with a 12-22 knot west, northwest breeze blowing over the Charles River. The Wrathful Beavers boat, sailed by Scarlett E. Koller ’16, Sophie Goemans ’17, Zachary H. Hall ’18 and Trevor V. Long ’19, together registered 40 points and a first-place finish in both the A and B Divisions.
Hall and Koller placed in first and second in eight of ten races in the A Division, while Goemans and Long did the same in the B Division, while not finishing any lower than fifth in any of the ten rotations.
MIT’s second boat, the Beavers, placed sixth overall with a total of 114 points. Elizabeth Zhang ’16 and Greta M. Farrell ’18 were fifth in the A Division, while the duo of Joseph T. Chamberlin ’19 and Tiffany J. Xi ’19 were seventh in the B Division. Zhang and Farrell took five top three finishes including first in the sixth and tenth rotations, respectively. Chamberlin and Xi’s top race came in the form of a fourth-place finish in the sixth race of the morning.
The final entry for the Cardinal and Gray, the Angry Beavers, took eighth overall out of 18 total teams with 135 points. In the A Division, Megan A. McKnelly ’17, Jorlyn Le Garrec ’17 and Ann M. Hughes ’19 notched a fifth place finish, while the B Division boat with Jamila S. Smith-Dell ’16 and Sarah J. Caso ’19 and Noa K. Yoder ’19 finished eighth.
At the Captain Hurst Bowl, MIT had three entries — one in each of the three divisions. The teams had perfect sailing conditions with winds ranging from 5 to 15 knots and about a 60-degree temperature on Saturday, but on Sunday, temperatures in the low 20s and snow showers affected the sailors racing on Lake Mascoma in Enfield, New Hampshire.
As a team, the Engineers registered a sixth place finish, totaling 269 points. Both the A Division and the B Division notched sixth in their respective divisions. Alexander M. Stewart ’17 and Paige M. Omura ’17 captured 107 points in the A boat, while David F. Larson ’16, Lisa Sukharev-Chuyan ’16 and Jordan N. Ladd ’17 had 98 points in the B boat. The C Division featured Christopher J. Ford ’16 and Ty L. Ingram ’18, who had the best divisional finish, third, for the Engineers.
In the 18 team regatta, Stewart and Omura started off slow, but over the final seven races, the duo took home five top-5 finishes. Larson, Sukharev-Chuyan and Ladd followed suit with similar results. The B Division trio took second, twice over the final five races on Sunday. In nine of the 14 rotations, Ford and Ingram finished either second or third for a team best 64 points.
The sailing team competes next on Thursday, Oct. 22 in the second of two fall Midweek Firefly Invites. Racing is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m. at MIT’s home course on Charles River.