Crew Boasts Prep for ECRC Sprints

The Harvard and Radcliffe crews experienced mixed results in their weekend of races before the Eastern Athletic Rowing Conference.

The Harvard heavyweight crew won its last home race over Northeastern while the Radcliffe heavyweight boat posted a disappointing loss to B.U. in its race against the Terriers and M.I.T.

Harvard Heavyweights

The Harvard Heavyweight crew earned the title of fastest crew on the Charles River with its win over Northeastern on Saturday.

The Crimson captured the Charlie Smith Cup and avenged its autumn loss to the Huskies in the Head of the Charles. Harvard pulled a time of 5:49.5 over Northeastern's 5:52.3. The Crimson is ranked second in the East. The Huskies are No. 7.

Harvard took a multiple-seat advantage at the beginning of the race.

"It was a really strong race," captain Jason Craw said. "We got off to a decent start. It was a heartening win because every time Jon Cahill called a move, we moved on it."

Harvard held onto its lead throughout the race, never allowing the Huskies to walk through the Crimson boat.

"A little before the 500 [meter mark], they came back a seat or two, but we moved back up," said senior coxswain Jon Cahill. "We had a couple spots where we sat on them, but we never let up our advantage."

Cahill is one of three seniors in the boat who finish their rowing careers at Harvard undefeated on the Charles. Eastern Sprints looks promising for the Crimson with only Princeton ranked higher in the regional polls.

Radcliffe Heavyweights

Radcliffe's high hopes of ending its four-race losing streak were dashed on Saturday when B.U. emerged victorious in yet another loss for the Black and White.

B.U. captured the DeWolfe-Allen Cup with a winning time of 6:39.7 over Radcliffe's 6:42.0 and M.I.T.'s 7:16.1.

Radcliffe (5-5) was ranked fifth over No. 6 B.U. and No. 18 M.I.T. in recent Eastern polls.

"It was one of our better rows,"said freshman stroke-seat Caryn Davies. "There was more fight than in the Yale race."

Despite Radcliffe's early one-length advantage by the 800-meter mark, the Terriers took back a few seats in the middle of the race on the way to victory.

"There was a lull just before the sprint and [B.U.] moved on it," Davies said.

The loss breaks up Radcliffe's six-race winning streak over B.U. in the cup series, including last year's race in which Radcliffe pulled a time of 6:17.5 to set a Charles River record.

Radcliffe will spend the week preparing for its trip to Camden, New Jersey for Eastern Sprints next weekend.

"We have nothing to lose," Davies said. "We're a fast crew. We can pull something out."

The five seniors in the varsity boat leave their last race on the Charles with the tough loss and hopes of participation in the NCAA Championships after Eastern Sprints. Radcliffe has earned a bid to the NCAA regatta for the last three years. The performances of the other Radcliffe boats may help in the search for a berth to nationals.

The second varsity boat (9-1) and the Radcliffe first novice boat (8-2) won their races on Saturday, along with the undefeated Varsity Four which is ranked first in the East.