Radcliffe on Short End of Another Close Race

Another terrific race against one of the nation’s top teams, another heart-breaking loss for the No. 5 Radcliffe heavyweight crew. The women’s first varsity eight fell to No. 3 Princeton by 2.8 seconds, but topped No. 13 Cornell by 11.4 seconds at the Cayuga Lake Inlet in races against the Tigers and Big Red.

Across the board, the second varsity (2V) eight was the only Black and White boat to claim victory. The Radcliffe 2V (6:54.6) put in a most impressive piece and bested Princeton (7:00.6) by six seconds and Cornell (7:01.4) by 6.8 ticks.

In the first varsity race, the Tigers got off to a very quick start and went ahead of the other shells by half a length after about 20 strokes. They managed to hold onto the lead for the entire 2,000-meter distance.

Quickly fading into the distance, the Big Red was not a factor in the race, but the Black and White stayed with Princeton the entire way.

There were a few times that Radcliffe was able to cut into the Tiger lead by a seat or two, but the Princeton crew was always quick to reassert itself and take back what was lost.

The Tigers crossed the finish line in 6:23, about three-fourths of a length ahead of the Black and White, who timed in at 6:25.8. Cornell finished in 6:37.2.

Last week, Radcliffe was edged out at the finish line by No. 4 Brown by less than a second.

“I feel a certain amount of frustration,” co-captain Lis Lambert said. “But we know Brown and Princeton are the toughest teams we’ll face this year.”

“All [the] pieces are there; it’s just a matter of making a small number of technical changes and feeling confident racing together,” she added. “There’s going to be a breakthrough where we find a rhythm and just go with it.”

The Black and White second varsity had plenty of rhythm of their own, building an early lead and maintaining the advantage through the race.

“They’re the force that’s driving the team right now,” Lambert said. “Our 1V is in contention to be at the top, but the 2V is there.”

“To have that much depth is great, especially when NCAA selection comes around,” Lambert added.

The Tigers and Big Red each swept two other races.

Princeton laid claim to the pair of novice eight races. In the first novice eight, the Tigers powered from the start and never looked back. Princton won the race in 6:45.1, 2.6 seconds in front of Cornell (6:47.7) and 19.3 seconds ahead of Radcliffe (7:04.2). The second novice eight match up saw the Tigers (7:12.2) again best the Black and White (7:32.2) by a sizeable margin, this time by a full 20 seconds.

Cornell claimed both varsity four events, taking the A race in 7:44.0 to Princeton’s 7:46.6 and Radcliffe’s 7:57.3, and seized the B competition with a time of 8:04.8 to the Black and White’s 8:19.0.

Radcliffe crew returns to the friendly confines of the Charles River next weekend to take on Dartmouth and No. 18 Syracuse.

—Staff writer J. Patrick Coyne can be reached at coyne@fas.harvard.edu.