Princeton Edges W. Lightweights for Knecht Cup

Rowing for the Knecht Cup on New Jersey’s Cooper River, the Radcliffe lightweight crew posted strong showings against fierce competition.

First and foremost among that competition was defending national champion Princeton, but the event also included a surprise race against heavyweight fours when one of the Black and White’s lightweight fours was forced to race in the open division, where it more than held its own.

Despite that impressive turn of events, the story of the day was the lightweight eight’s sprint against the Tigers in the Grand Finals. Although it lost its first race of the season to Princeton by a narrow margin, Radcliffe made the second meeting even closer.

The Black and White won its heat over Wisconsin by an eight-second margin to advance to the finals.

That difference looked misleading when the boat stumbled coming off of the starting line and fell a full boat length behind leader Princeton in the Grand Finals.

After that opening difficulty, though, the lightweights made a commendable run. The team put on a burst of speed over the middle 1000 meters of the race and upped the tempo further over the last segment.

“We had a fantastic sprint and lost by only a half a seat,” co-captain Jessica Hertz said. “It was a great race.”

Overall, the Tigers finished in 6:58.3, with the Black and White just four-tenths of a second behind them.

The statement that the close finish makes was not lost upon the lightweights

“We are encouraged that the margin between us and Princeton is rapidly shrinking,” sophomore Kristin Hicks said. “We almost had them.”

Radcliffe won’t have to wait long before its next chance to race the Tigers, as the Black and White will face Princeton three more times this season, with the next occasion being this weekend in Princeton, N.J.

“We’re hoping we can go down and beat them on their own course,” Hicks said.

In addition to the lightweight eight’s success, both of Radcliffe’s fours made the Grand Finals. The team’s lightweight four pulled out a strong fourth place in the finals with a time of 8:31.5, finishing nearly 20 seconds behind Princeton’s A boat but a full second ahead of the Tigers’ B boat.

The highlight of lightweight four racing came in the semifinals, where the team, racing neck-and-neck with Wisconsin for most of the course, pulled ahead with a strong final 500-meter sprint. The Black and White finished in first with a time of 8:23.5, a full two seconds ahead of the Badgers.

“We felt really good coming out of the semi,” freshman Casey Roche said. “And we felt strong for the start of the final.”

Like the Radcliffe eight, the four stumbled off the line and was forced to play catch-up for the entire Grand Finals. Although Princeton’s A boat was far in front, the team again put on a strong sprint, passing the Tigers’ B boat and nearly catching third-place finisher URI.

Radcliffe’s other four finished in sixth place—in the varsity four event. Forced to race up against the heavyweights from Kansas, Vermont and Johns Hopkins, amongst others, the quartet qualified for the Grand Finals and went on to post a time of 8:24.7. Although that left the Black and White in sixth place, the fact that it came against bigger, stronger rowers meant something not only to those in the boat, but also to the rest of the team.

“We were impressed that we were able to advance to the Grand Finals in the heavyweight event,” junior Elizabeth Tisei said. “It was exciting to be competitive with varsity heavyweights from other teams.”

“[That sixth place] is a phenomenal accomplishment given that we had a lightweight four racing in a heavyweight four event,” Hertz agreed.

—Staff writer Timothy M. McDonald can be reached at tmcdonal@fas.harvard.edu.