Radcliffe Lightweight Crew Tops Struggling Georgetown

A broken oar in the Georgetown boat allowed Radcliffe to cruise to victory on the Charles River on Saturday.

The No. 3 Black and White rode momentum from wins over No. 7 MIT and No. 8 URI last weekend, taking the lead from the beginning of the race. However, Radcliffe opened up the race when Georgetown incurred a calamitous technical problem.

“We were edging up on them for about 400 meters,” sophomore Laura Spence said. “We had about six seats up on them by the 1000-meter mark and they just stopped.”

One of the Hoyas caught a crab at the 1100-meter mark, but was unable to regain composure as the oar broke under the water’s pressure. Georgetown was left struggling to remove an oar without a handle from the water as the Black and White continued to the finish line.

“It was difficult to sprint and keep going without anyone to race against,” Spence said. “I think we did a great job focusing and pretending that we were racing someone.”

The Hoyas finished the race rowing by seven’s, 51.75 seconds after Radcliffe.

Next weekend, the Black and White boat has its hands full with defending national champion and No. 2 Princeton along with a rematch with MIT. Though the Engineers lagged behind Radcliffe by 14.7 seconds last weekend, MIT’s program has taken huge steps of improvement in past years and may prove to be more of a threat then in the previous competition.

The Tigers are a definite threat, as they are looking to avenge the Black and White’s upset at the Knecht Cup on April 13th. Though Princeton beat Radcliffe in the Villanova Invitational the very next day, the Black and White have already shown that No. 1 Wisconsin is not the only crew that can claw at the Tigers and are preparing for another surprise win on Saturday.

“I think we’re going to really go at 400 meters down,” Spence said. “Previously, we haven’t had a very strong second 500, but we have a really strong final 1000.”

Radcliffe’s triumph at the Knecht Cup is the only time the Black and White has beaten Princeton this season.

“The three times we’ve raced them, they took off in the second 500,” Spence said. “That’s the goal—to not let them do that. When we beat them, we had a great second 500.”

Saturday’s regatta will start at 8:36 a.m. and will be the Black and White’s last dual meet before Eastern Sprints on May 12. The EAWRC Sprints Championship will take place on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J., the site of Radcliffe’s win over the Tigers.

Radcliffe lightweight crew

at Charles River

First Varsity

1. Radcliffe 7:28.75

2. Georgetown 8:19.00