Women's Heavyweight Crew Defeats Princeton, Cornell

After ceding the Class of 1975 Cup to Princeton for the last five years, the Radcliffe heavyweight first varsity eight boat was ready for a change.

On Saturday morning, the Black and White’s top boat outpaced the Tigers on Cayuga Inlet in Ithaca, N.Y. to take back the Cup for the first time since 2007.

“Our goal for this race was to really race the middle thousand meters, so from 500 we took a move and hit this really great rhythm that was really powerful, and I really think that we achieved that goal,” said senior Mary Maginnis, rowing in the second seat of the first varsity eight.

“They definitely pushed us toward the end, which was fun, but we definitely did exactly what we wanted to do: have a strong base, have a powerful middle 1000. We wanted to win the race, and that’s exactly what we did.”

The Class of 1975 Cup races, which encompasses six different competitions, features Radcliffe against Ivy-foes Princeton and Cornell.

The Tigers and the Black and White exchanged victories throughout the day, with Radcliffe taking home wins in two of the three NCAA qualifying events—the first varsity eights race and the varsity fours race.

“This is always a big race because both Princeton and Cornell can be quite fast,” Radcliffe coach Liz O’Leary said. “Cornell is a little off their normal speed this year, from what we’ve seen this far…but Princeton was very much on. They’ve had some fast races so far this year, so we knew it was going to be a very competitive weekend, and it was.”

After last weekend’s gusty headwinds and churning currents in the Charles River, the relatively calm weather on the Cayuga Inlet provided much appreciated rowing conditions for the crews.

“The Cornell racecourse is in sort of a canal, so it’s very protected from all directions,” O’Leary said. “There was sort of a tailwind today, which meant we were racing with the wind rather than against the wind, which was a nice change, given that last weekend we were racing sort of into heavy headwind conditions.”

The course, which featured just three lanes, allowed crews to race right up next to each other.

Added with the format of the spring racing, where crews compete at the same time rather than in a timed trial, the regatta provided an elevated competitive atmosphere.

“It makes it that much more competitive, that much more fun, that much more exciting,” Maginnis said. “Obviously, racing you get really nervous, but it’s always fun to cross the finish line and know exactly how you did, rather than in a head race, you cross the finish line and you think, ‘Oh, that felt good,’ but it didn’t end up that good based on the results. I love it. It’s my favorite kind of racing.”

Beginning the day for the Black and White was the third varsity eight, which rowed to a second-place finish, completing the 2000-meter course in 6:49.9, eight seconds behind the Tiger’s crew.

The first varsity eight took to the water next and pushed through the middle 1000 of the race to best Princeton by 2.2 seconds with a final time of 6:11.7.

O’Leary attributes the crew’s success to the boat’s base speed—the stretch following the initial sprint.

“[The first varsity eight] was our first win [of the day], and they had a really strong base speed, which is I think what is at the root of a successful team,” O’Leary said. “If your base speed is good, then you can build off of that. Today was the first time that I had sort of seen them race aggressively at base and that was encouraging.”

The varsity fours crew employed a similar strategy to pull out its own victory, making a surge in the middle 1000 meters to cross the finish line nearly five seconds ahead of the Tigers’ boat.

The second varsity eight represented Radcliffe’s only loss in an NCAA qualifying event on the day.

The crew, which finished in 6:23.4, found itself five seconds behind Princeton.

Finishing out the day for the Black and White were the second varsity fours crew and the fourth varsity eights, which finished second and third, respectively, while the Tigers reigned victorious.

For O’Leary, the victories are an indicator not just of the progress that her team has made thus far, but of the work remaining in the spring season.

“To win two of those events today was an important step for us,” O’Leary said. “I know that school is winding down, but for us the season is just winding up, so this is a good start, but it’s just one race.”

—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samanthalin@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @linsamnity.