Women's Crew Falls to No. 3 Ohio State

They say that all good things must come to an end.

Apparently, the Radcliffe lightweight crews did not get that memo, as the Black and White took to the Cooper River on Sunday and swept every varsity event it entered. With the victories, the first and second varsity eights remain undefeated and enter IRA Nationals as the top-ranked crews nationally.

Roughly 500 miles away on the Scioto River on Saturday, the Radcliffe heavyweights took on Ohio State as its final test before the postseason. After ceding the first race to the Black and White, the third-ranked Buckeyes took the next three.

HEAVYWEIGHTS

In the final race before Ivy League Championships, it was the least experienced boat of the Radcliffe heavyweight crew that pulled out the lone victory over Ohio State.

“It was really important to me that we have a chance to race a really fast team out of the Ivy Conference and out of our region,” Harvard coach Liz O’Leary said. “I’ve been talking about this, it’s just something that’s pretty important on our racing schedule and I knew it would be a challenge.”

The third varsity boat, comprised mostly of rookies, was first on the water for the Black and White. It bested the Buckeye’s novice eight boat by seven seconds, rowing the 2,000-meter course in 7:09.47.

“We led start to finish; it was exciting to see them do that,” O’Leary said. “The thing that means a lot to me is that boat is a group of freshmen, for the most part. There are a handful of freshmen in that boat who are really learning a lot and getting good racing experiences in, and realizing what the level of competition out there is, and I was really excited to see them win.”

The final three races—the varsity four, second varsity eight, and first varsity eight—were the NCAA-qualifying races, and strong winds on the river created difficult racing conditions for the crews.

The first varsity eight race ended the day, with Ohio State’s top boat just edging Radcliffe’s by three seconds. The Black and White kept pace with the Buckeyes through much of the race but began losing ground in the third 500, with Ohio State finally pulling away in the final 500.

“For a good chunk of the way, it was a seat-to-seat kind of race, and that’s the fun kind you love to have,” O’Leary said. “I was hoping we could respond in the fourth 500, but we couldn’t. They are a big, strong [crew]—they’ve been proving it all spring, that they’re contenders.”

The second varsity eight took on the nationally top-ranked Buckeyes 2V boat and fell at the midpoint of the race to finish the race in 7:15:35, 14 seconds behind Ohio State’s crew. The varsity four faced similar struggles, taking on three Buckeyes’ boats and coming in fourth after matching Ohio State’s ‘B’ boat stroke-for-stroke for the majority of the course.

“We were competitive with the second four for 95 percent of the race, but couldn’t quite hang on to their first four, and then their third four kind of came up,” O’Leary said. “With this boat, I thought they sort of lost their rhythm, lost the ability to be intense during the drive, and that began in the headwind. In the four, that’s a tough thing to have happen.”

LIGHTWEIGHTS

For the first time since 2004, the sprints crown has returned to Radcliffe. The first varsity eights showed again why they are ranked first in the nation on Sunday afternoon, blowing past No. 3 Princeton and crossing the finish line in 7:17.8, over eight seconds before any other crew.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said senior Emma Lukasiewicz, sixth seat of the first varsity eight. “As a senior, it’s so exciting after a lot of hard work but a lot of good improvement, so to finally see the results pay off is a huge gain for the program. To sweep all of the varsity events, it’s just so exciting to see the improvements that our program has made, and every girl on this team deserves this success.”

The boat held its own against the Tigers in the first half of the race before finding its rhythm and stroking to an open-water lead in the third 500.

“Nothing’s really certain, but around the 1,000 we had a pretty comfortable distance, but we definitely just wanted to keep pushing it out,” Lukasiewicz said. “You never know when a crew’s going to make a move.”

The third varsity four started the streak early, with the Black and White crew outstripping the rest of the field by over 10 seconds.

After the novice eight fell to Wisconsin’s crew by a little over a minute in the grand final, the second varsity eight found the top of the medal stand again. The crew rowed the course in 7:34.4, edging the Badgers’ boat by less than two seconds.

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