Harvard, Radcliffe Head Visitors off at Charles

A powerhouse Radcliffe four stroked to victory in the Head-of-the-Charles Women's Fours competition Sunday, but a weaker contingent foundered in the Women's Eights.

Radcliffe coach John Baker diverted his forces' energies from the eights events by splitting his top eight oarswomen into two fours. One boat won the fours event, and the other placed fourth in Sunday's field of 15.

Powerful Boat

Four members of Radcliffe's 1974 sprint champion eight powered the winning boat. They were Katie Moss at bow, Allison Hill at two, Allison Hall at three, Wiki Royden at stroke and co-captain Nancy Hadley at cox.

The winning Radcliffe four covered the blustery three-mile Head course in 20 minutes, 34.8 seconds.

Three veterans of Radcliffe's four from last spring's intercollegiate racing teamed with Williams oarswoman Gay Symington to grab fourth place in the fours division.

The first Radcliffe four, Yale, and the University of New Hampshire finished ahead of Symington and Radcliffe's Robin Lothrop (bow), Anne Robinson (3), Barbara Norris (stroke), and Amy Sacks (cox).

Radcliffe passed four boats in the first mile and a half of the race. But strong crews from Radcliffe and Yale were far ahead, and the second Radcliffe four was unable to overtake them.

"It is difficult to keep going as fast without other boats to push you. After we passed the four boats, we were alone," said sacks.

Radcliffe as much as forfeited the title it won last year in the Women's Eights division by stacking its strong rowers in the fours. Baker said he "wanted to give my oarsmen a change of pace."

Weakened Eights

Three Radcliffe boats competed in the eights event, but rowing novices filled two, and the lightweight squad powered the other.

The first and second novice boats finished 23rd and 34th in the field of 43 women's eights. The Radcliffe lightweights took 28th.

Coach Peter Huntsman said the lights performed "very well for their first competition of the year."

National champion Vesper Boat Club of Philadelphia took the Head Women's Eights crown from Radcliffe with a time of 18:24.4.

Sculling newcomer Wiki Royden finished second in the women's singles event. Cambridge Boat Club's Gail Pierson beat Royden by 38 seconds for her second straight Head win.

Radcliffe sculler Marie Adams took seventh place in the singles competition, and Robin Chase grabbed 14th.

Despite the strong performance, Baker was hesitant to predict a strong Radcliffe performance next spring.

"There's almost no connection between the Head and what goes on in the spring. We'll just have to wait and see," he said.

Opponents Wary

But Yale's Anne Warner said, "Radcliffe looked awfully strong today. They'll be even stronger in the spring."

Princeton's Cathy Brown added, "Radcliffe fielded a lot of boats today. That's got to be evidence of a powerful program."

Hadley said the addition of coaches Huntsman and Bill Backman had contributed to the improvement in Radcliffe's performance.

"With Peter coaching the lightweights and Bill teaching the novices, John has more time for the returning oarsmen," she said.