Radcliffe Heavyweights Sweep Past Yale, WPI

The Radcliffe varsity heavyweight crew opened its season with a narrow two-seat victory over a surprisingly strong Yale team and Worcester Polytechnic Institute on the Charles River in a light rain Saturday. The Radcliffe crew covered the 1000 meter course in 3:42 with the Elis finishing at 3:44 and WPI coming in at 4:14.

Radcliffe got off to an atrocious start, as the rowers' oars were splashing and bouncing all over the water for the first 15 strokes. After these initial strokes were taken at a cadence of 37, the crew settled to a 34, a rate that stroke Alison Hill maintained throughout the race.

It was then a few strokes after the settle, when Radcliffe got reorganized, that coxswain Nancy Hadley called a power ten that boosted Radcliffe into a lead that it was never to relinquish.

By the 500-meter mark, Radcliffe opened to a four-seat advantage, and the bigger Cliffies, who outweighed their opponents by an average of ten pounds per person, were pulling away with each stroke. At the 750-meter point, Radcliffe had increased its lead to seven seats and appeared to be cruising home-free.

With 200 meters to go Yale began to move on Radcliffe. The Bulldogs upped their cadence and began closing the gap as the Radcliffe crew refused to sprint, cautiously keeping its 34 cadence. However, it was a case of too little too late as Radcliffe managed to stave off the charging Elis and escape with a two-seat victory margin.

A happy John Baker, the Radcliffe coach, said after the race, "I was pleased with the way we rowed. It was a good time for an opening race, and we only put the boat together this past Thursday. I thought they really brought it off well." Cox Hadley said, "We weren't altogether pleased with our performance. We rowed a mediocre race, but we're happy we won."

Captain Connie Cervilla added, "We had trouble at the start because we had only practiced our starts five times earlier in the week. All in all the race was closer than it should have been, but because it was such a close call, this race will help us in the long run."

In the junior varsity fours race, Radcliffe had an easy time. The first Radcliffe four crossed the finish line in a time of 4:17, followed by the second JV four at 4:30, Yale at 4:38, and WPI at 5:00. Amy Sacks said, "We rowed unbelievably well."