Harvard Women Vie for NCAA Spot

Radcliffe heavyweight crew sent all six boats to each grand final and took home two bronze medals, one in the varsity eight, and a gold medal in the second novice eight at the all-important Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing Colleges on the Cooper River, demonstrating the depth of the Black and White program.

Success in these races weighs heavily in earning a berth to the NCAA Championship, making this a centerpiece of the spring season.

“The morning was beautiful,” assistant coach Cory Bosworth said, “But it came down on us as we racing the varsity grand finals, it was pouring rain, with a cross wind that swung around to a tailwind. It was quite intense. It’s a great race course, but the launch site is very muddy, and we were just soaking wet...I don’t think that it was intimidating for our athletes, but it was wild.”

After being just barely edged out by No. 7 Princeton—by 0.4 seconds—in their heat, the varsity eight made a heroic surge in the last stretch of the race to place third, ahead of the Tigers who had beat Radcliffe by six seconds in April.

In that race, Brown won with a time of 6:24.024, Yale followed one second later and the Black and White pulled in just five seconds behind for an impressive third place. This win clinched the Ivy title for Brown.

“It was a race that I knew going into that we had the potential of doing really well,” Coxswain Sarah Devine said. “After some great practices, this boat has come into its own. They trusted that they could do very well. We were down in 4th for about ¾ of the race, but they were able to relax and focus and know they could do it and went for it in the end.”

“When we were launching it was pouring rain with sideways wind,” Devine said. “But we’ve rowed in ice and snow this spring, so we took those conditions and instead of being defeated by them we said to ourselves we love this kind of weather. We thrive in this kind of weather.”

The third varsity four also made an impressive showing. Radcliffe placed third in 7:26.094 and beat Penn’s boat, the victor of the morning heat. This third place finish capped the season for the sometimes volatile boat.

“We were very pleased with them making into the grand finals,” Bosworth said. “It was an incredible performance. Their boat probably had the most line-up changes of any boat. They’ve kept the momentum and continued along the learning curve and gained speed.”

The second varsity won their morning heat by a one second margin over Boston University and a two-second gap against Princeton, and could not manage the same feat in the grand final, despite being seeded 3rd. Ultimately, the boat placed fourth 18 seconds back of Brown. Dartmouth and Yale took second and third.

“That was a disspointment,” Bosworth said. “Dartmouth had a fantastic race they were ecstatic about it. It sounded like they rowed above and beyond their own expectations. So I’m really impressed by that crew’s race. That said our 2V didn’t find their rhythm.”

The novices made formidable showings. The Radcliffe novice eight surged to win their heat and rowed a dramatic grand final making a threat at third and just running out of course to finish 4th in 6:53.038.

Spending the first half of the race back in the field by about a length, the boat’s stroke rating was high and the crew was not getting the run per stroke they knew they needed.

Then, making a move in the final 500 meters, the boat closed more than a length of distance on Cornell finishing in forth by just a seat.

“In the last 500 meters they had the sprint to end all sprints,” Bosworth said. “They closed more than a length of distance which is really a really amazing amount to cover in that length of time. Two more stokes we would have passed Cornell but everybody only gets 2000 meters. That was disappointing.”

Taking home a gold medal, the second novice eight finished with fireworks. Finishing four seconds ahead of Navy, the boat which has been forced to row most of the season as a four brought home the shiniest medal.

“Our novice program has been great,” Devine said. “They had rowed as a four because a lot of other schools don’t have the depth, so to see them work as a group and dominate is exciting, especially after seeing the novice eight’s photo finish for forth.”

As for the NCAA tournament, the squad is optimistic and eager to find out the committee’s decision.

“This year I don’t envy the committee,” Bosworth said. “There have been a lot of interesting results. No crew has distinguished themselves above and beyond every other crew. Any crew that goes to the tournament has a real shot at the grand finals. It makes it a little nerve wracking, though I am really proud of our racing this year. We did the best we could and made a strong case for ourselves.”

—Staff writer Elizabeth A. Joyce can be reached at eajoyce@fas.harvard.edu.