Radcliffe Finishes Behind Wisconsin

No. 5 Radcliffe lightweight crew made a strong showing at the Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing Colleges’ Sprints placing 2nd in the third varsity four, third in the second varsity eight and fourth in the varsity eight on Sunday on the Cooper River in New Jersey.

Camden welcomed the rowers with sunny skies that quickly darkened to drench the later races, which were moved up in the day out of fear of a forecast that promised thunderstorms in the afternoon.

“We had some pretty crazy conditions,” junior Rebekah Kharrazi said. “It ranged from a head wind to a cross tail. For our race [the 1V] we launched about 45 minutes before the race and we had no idea what the conditions were going to be. It was a little bit stormy, but it was typical Camden you-never-know-what-to-expect conditions. It ended up starting to rain and pouring by the end of our race. This is something that you have to be prepared for and the thing about racing is that you’re not the only boat out there; everyone deals with it so it really doesn’t matter.”

No. 4 Wisconsin dominated the races, sweeping each, taking the Eastern title upsetting the favorite, top-ranked Princeton.

Radcliffe finished fourth in the exciting varsity eight race about 20 seconds ahead of MIT and less than three seconds off third place Georgetown, but a full nine seconds off the triumphant Badgers.

“[Wisconsin] really had an amazing showing; I have incredible respect for them,” Kharazzi said. “They’ve been a powerhouse for as long as I’ve been around. They set the bar for everybody else. They and Princeton are pushing really hard and making lightweight rowing faster and faster every race. It’s amazing to be a part of that and they definitely came out this weekend and showed what they could do.”

The second varsity eight let an early lead over Princeton slip as the Black and White faded into third place in that race, 20 seconds behind Wisconsin and 15 behind the Tigers.

The third varsity four muscled past the Tigers to finish second in 8:21.691 seconds, edging out Princeton by 2.4 seconds and finishing a mere 4.2 seconds behind Wisconsin.

Placing fourth and last in the novice eight in 7:38.669, Radcliffe finished six seconds behind MIT and further behind Georgetown and Wisconsin.

“It’s finals time right now so it’s really challenging,” Kharrazi said. “We had to prove ourselves above and beyond the circumstances. We left on Friday after morning exams and many people had to take exams while we were there. During my time here this is the first time this has happened. We had a lot to deal with but everyone really stepped up to the plate. They were strange circumstances specifically for Radcliffe.”

Looking ahead, Radcliffe will knuckle down after exam period is over for the athletes, take the next two weeks and concentrate on finding the speed they need to succeed at IRA National Championships. June 5-7 the squad will return for the Cooper River looking for vindication.

“The varsity boat is now looking towards IRAs,” Kharrazi said. “We have now less than three weeks and we expect more competition to come. There’s Stanford, Bucknell, and there will be others as well who didn’t race at Eastern sprints. We’ve been racing top quality competition, but there’s more where that came from. Going into IRAs we have not very much time to prepare but a very big competition ahead of us. We’re definitely going to be looking to find some more speed.”

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