The Lead:  Facing tough weather conditions throughout the weekend, the MIT sailing team participated in three regattas over the weekend, as the Engineers posted two top-10 finishes and impressive individual performances at the Tech Dinghy Invitational.
 
TECH DINGHY INVITATIONAL | Cambridge, Mass. | 3rd, 11th, 13th out of 18 (Individuals)
 
- Puffy and northerly winds that slowly died down throughout the day on Saturday led to a shifty race with many tracks.
 
- Nine races were completed in the very competitive fleet that caused large scores during the event.
 
- First-year Alex Horne (Broomfield, Colo.) posted the best finish for MIT as he finished third with 40 points, followed by classmate Brooke Barry (West Hartford, Conn.) in 11th (89 points), and sophomore Yitan Zhu (Katy, Texas) in 13th (114 points).

 MRS. HURST TROPHY | Enfield, N.H. | 7th of 17 (211 Points)
 
- Day one featured strong winds as teams sailed 10 races. Teams needed to get to the left side of the course upwind, and downwind they looked for pressure and to stay stable while catching the waves. The winds were much lighter on Sunday for the final four races, but it was a very shifty day of racing and made it important for the sailors to sail clear on the downwind.
 
- Overall, racing was very competitive with MIT finishing one point behind Brown for sixth after climbing back 30 points in the final six races, which included two wins and a fourth-place finish to end the regatta.
 
- The A Division finished 9th with 125 points with sophomores Brooke Schmelz (Monmouth Beach, N.J.), Shayne Bersin (Port Washington, N.Y.), and Samantha Karlson (Groton, Conn.) getting time in the water. The B Division finished third with 86 points with sophomore Lucy Brock (Austin, Texas) and junior Jemma Schroder (Menlo Park, Calif.) steering the boat.

SHERMAN HOYT TROPHY | Providence, R.I. | 7th of 18 (228 Points)
 
- The Engineers faced very puffy and shifty conditions on both days with winds from 5-15 knots. Eight races were completed on Saturday and six on Sunday. The course had a very short starting line which caused very close and competitive starts.
 
- On day one in the A Division, junior Sam Bruce (Severna Park, Md.) and graduate student Maaya Prasad (Yorktown, Va.) finished with a 2-2-1, and overall, they finished fourth with 96 points behind Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth. Sophomore Nicholas Abate (Kemah, Texas) also saw time in the A Division.
 
- In the B Division, MIT totaled 132 points for a 12th-place finish. Graduate student Dana Haig (Beach Haven, N.J.), junior Maks Groom (Seattle, Wash.), sophomore Julius Heitkoetter (Austin, Texas), and senior Grace Mao (Overland Park, Kan.) all got time out on the water for the Engineers.
 
- Both divisions were able to win a race and totaled 11 top-five finishes over the weekend.
 
UP NEXT:

- MIT is back in the water next weekend, October 1-2 as the Engineers will host the Smith Trophy and compete for the Danmark Trophy.  
 
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