Engineers Take Strong Seventh at Hatch Brown Trophy

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The host MIT sailing team finished seventh out of 18 entries, besting several other rival New England schools, at the Hatch Brown Trophy this past weekend. A-Division skipper Joshua Leighton and crew Victoria Lee and C-team leader Philip Crain and crew Stephanie Tong placed fifth in their circuits, hoisting the Engineers one slot better overall than neighboring foe Tufts University. Boston College won the event with a score of 316.

With three divisions racing 18 rounds each, Leighton and Lee and Crain and Tong combined for 17 top-five finishes. Leighton and Lee topped the board twice, while Crain and Tong finished second once and took six third-place slots.

In addition to Tufts, the Engineers fared better than Boston University, Brown University, Yale University, and Harvard University among the other New England challengers.

B-team skippers Eamon Glackin and Andrew Sommer and crew Adrienne Tran placed 10th in their group. With Glackin at the helm, the Engineers scored a second-place finish in the early rounds, while Sommer led Tech to a fourth-place slot in the later tilts.

The teams raced in a five to 15 knot northwest-northerly breeze on Saturday, while Sunday brought shifty westerly winds of three to seven knots.

Hatch Brown, for whom the event was named, was on hand to meet with the competitors and coaches. He was the sailing master and coach for MIT for 29 years and was instrumental in the college sailing organization throughout his tenure. Brow also took first place in A-Division at the College Nationals for BU in 1959.

The Engineers also placed 11th out of 17 teams at the Women’s Mrs. Hurst Bowl hosted by Dartmouth College.