W. Heavies Trounce Huskies

The Radcliffe women’s heavyweight varsity crew concluded its dual season with a 10-1 record—its best mark since an 11-0 campaign in 1989—by soundly trouncing Northeastern on the Charles River on Saturday.

The Huskies, ranked eleventh in the east, were unable to challenge the Black and White, ranked fifth in the nation and second in the east, as Radcliffe retained the Rowlands Cup by prevailing in the first varsity race, 6:50.4 to 7:09.4.

“We set out to really demolish them,” co-captain Courtney Brown said. “We’re seeded quite ahead of them.”

The Black and White jumped out to an early lead, taking a five-seat advantage off the start. Radcliffe kept pushing, gaining open water at the 400-meter mark and extending the margin to two-and-a-half lengths by the Harvard Bridge, the halfway point of the race. The Black and White continued its pace for the rest of the course, winning by five lengths.

“We had a very good start,” Brown said. “We pulled out ahead and then maintained that margin. We just steadily moved beyond them.”

Confident in Radcliffe’s ability to defeat Northeastern, coach Liz O’Leary set a goal of winning by twenty seconds for the first varsity eight, a benchmark the boat missed by only a second.

“The reason that our coach set the goal at twenty seconds is because that is the margin that Brown and Yale beat [the Huskies] by last week,” junior Lis Lambert said. “The difference is that [the Bears and the Bulldogs] were racing against each other, while we needed a sustained, focused effort on our own. It was a tremendous accomplishment.”

Brown beat Northeastern by 20 seconds and Yale by five last weekend.

After competing against BU and MIT last weekend in difficult conditions that featured what co-captain Sarah Psutka called a “ridiculous tailwind” and a “crazy chop”, the Black and White was pleased with Saturday morning’s mild conditions and slight headwind.

“There was a bit of headwind, which was good because we usually deal with a headwind at [Eastern] Sprints,” Lambert said. “We hadn’t really dealt with headwinds yet this year.”

Eighteen schools compete for the eastern title at Eastern Sprints at the end of the dual-race season.

The most closely contested matchup of the day came in the first novice event. After several lead changes, the Huskies, ranked third in the east, squeaked past the seventh-ranked Black and White by about a seat, 7:15.4 to 7:16.2. It was Northeastern’s only victory of the day.

“The novices had their best race of the year,” Brown said. “It’s a nice confidence booster for them.”

Its dual season complete, Radcliffe now heads to the Cooper River in Camden, N.J. There, it will meet three-time defending Sprints champion Brown for the second time this season. The Bears handed the Black and White its only loss of the year, by 2.7 seconds on April 27. Radcliffe will also face Princeton, which the Black and White upset on April 12.

“It’s going to be great to see Brown again and to challenge them,” Brown said. “Princeton wants to prove that they can beat us, too.”

The last time Radcliffe’s first varsity boat won Sprints was in 1989. The Black and White finished third last season and is optimistic about its chances this year.

“The consensus is that we’re peaking at just the right time,” Lambert said. “We’re rowing the best that we have all season long. We can make a solid run for first place.”