Radcliffe Crew Falls to Brown

Despite the sunny weather, the Radcliffe heavyweight crew team faced rough waters on Saturday in its meet against Wisconsin and Brown.

The No. 5 Black and White (3-1) dominated Wisconsin in all of its races, but could not conquer No. 1 Brown, the defending national champion.

The Bears posted the third-fastest time ever by a women's crew team on the Charles River with a time of 6:28.1. The two fastest times belong to Radcliffe and B.U., who pulled times of 6.17.5 and 6.26.9, respectively, last year.

On Saturday, Radcliffe rowed to a time of 6:31.7 while the Badgers followed with a time of 6:41.4.

Radcliffe started out the race strong, with an early five-seat lead after 500 meters. But Brown walked through the Black and White boat to take a one-length lead at the 900-meter mark, an advantage that would remain for the rest of the race.

This race marked Brown's ninth straight victory over Radcliffe, but the 3.6-second margin of victory is the closest of the last nine meets.

The Radcliffe heavyweights will travel to Princeton this weekend to race against the No. 3 Tigers and No. 19 Cornell.

The Radcliffe lightweight race against UMass on Sunday on the Charles River was delayed due to an early-morning thunderstorm.

Despite the cold and rainy conditions, the Black and White won the race with a time of 7:16.4 over the Minutewomen's mark of 7:37.5.

The lightweights will race against Tufts this weekend.

Meanwhile, the Harvard lightweight crew team went on the road this past weekend to race against both Cornell and Penn on Saturday and Columbia on Sunday.

In the foggy Orchard Beach Lagoon, Columbia beat the Crimson's time of 5:52.8 with its winning time of 5:49.8.

In the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Penn., Harvard was victorious over both Cornell and Penn.

The Crimson pulled a strong start and had a one-length lead by the 1000-meter mark. Harvard posted a time of 5:33 over Cornell's time of 5:45 and Penn's 5:53.

The Harvard lightweights will race at Dartmouth this weekend with Dartmouth and MIT. The Harvard heavyweights will host Brown for the Stein Cup.