In only her second month at Harvard, freshman sailor Margaret Gill has already achieved what most never do in four years--capturing first place at the Women's Singlehanded National Championship this past weekend at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in King's Point, N.Y.

"It was a lot of fun," said Gill. "[There] were really challenging conditions."

The three-day regatta hosted sixteen of the top sailors from around the nation--and only three freshmen--all of whom had to qualify in district regattas to attend. Gill's second-place finish at the New England Women's Single Handed two weeks ago earned her a ticket to this memorable weekend.

The first six races of the competition were held on Friday. After this first day, Gill was ranked fifth. Competition was tight, with only eight points separating the top five.

However, on Saturday Gill took full command of the regatta in eight races and ended the day with a 14-point lead.

"I knew the key to the regatta would be consistency. Conditions were chang- ing constantly," Gill said.

She refused to relinquish this position inSunday's final three races--bringing the total to16 races--and thus won the entire regatta with anoverall score of 83.

"I just tried to sail conservatively. I knew itwas okay for them to beat me but I had to stayclose. I had a bit of a cushion," Gill said.

Casey Hogan from Dartmouth, who edged Gill outof first at the New England Championships,finished second this time around with 92 points.She was followed by Kelly Armitage of Tufts whoscored 96.

Although other regattas this weekend preventedthem from attending the championship, the Harvardsailing team was extremely proud of theirteammate's victory.

"She beat a lot of good sailors in a variety ofconditions. It is very impressive that she won,"said senior captain Pete Strothman.

"It is wonderful, especially considering thatshe is a freshman," said women's varsity captainCourtney Ermler. "She has been working really hardall season in preparation for this."

Her little experience with lasers--the term forsingle-handed boats--makes the win all the moreremarkable. Because the team mostly competes indouble-handed regattas, Gill only really startedto practice in the laser a few weeks before theNew England Championships.

For her win, Gill was awarded the Janet LutzTrophy, given in honor of the former AthleticDirector of Pembroke College, R.I.

Team Results

While Gill was busy taking the women's sailingworld by storm in New York, the other members ofthe Crimson sailing team also took to the waterthis weekend in two different New Englandregattas.