Princeton Ekes Out One-Second Sprints Win Over Radcliffe Heavies

Finally given the chance to conclusively prove its worth against the nation’s top crews, the Radcliffe heavyweight crew took full advantage.

The Black and White placed third in the Willing Point Trophy and the Radcliffe first varsity eight raced to second yesterday at the Eastern Sprints Championships on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J.

The defending Sprints and NCAA champion Black and White amassed 59 team points, putting it back of champion Brown (67 points) and Princeton (66 points) but ahead of Boston University (50 points), Cornell (50 points) and Yale (47 points).

The Radcliffe first varsity eight put in a tremendous showing, racing to second in the Grand Finals behind Princeton.

“I’m really, really proud of us,” co-captain Lis Lambert said. “We did a great job. It was definitely our best race of season.”

In its morning preliminary heat, the Black and White (6:29.30) finished second behind the Bulldogs (6:26.90), and sixth out of all the teams in the three heats. Seeded fifth in the Grand Finals, Radcliffe got out to a very fast start and built a margin in front of Yale and Brown. It was during the third 500 meters, however, that the Black and White established its greatest lead on the Bulldogs and the Bears, two teams that bested Radcliffe in regular season dual meets.

The Black and White maintained contact with Princeton the entire race, and finished in 6:17.10, exactly one second behind the Tigers. Yale crossed the line in 6:19.57, and Brown in 6:20.14.

“It was good to prove to ourselves what we can do, but haven’t really shown yet this year,” Lambert said.

Regarding the loss to Princeton, some rowers view it as more of a motivation than a detraction.

“We have almost three weeks [before the NCAA Championship] to close a one-second margin,” junior Heather Schofield said, “so the loss should light a fire and help to give us an incentive to really push our limits in the last few weeks of the season.”

The second varsity eight registered a disappointing fourth-place finish, timing in at 6:43.36, behind the first-place Bears (6:31.02), Bulldogs (6:35.53) and Princeton (6:39.33).

After turning in the morning’s best qualifying time, the Black and White struggled in the Grand Finals, especially during the second 500 meters. Radcliffe fell behind Brown, Yale and the Tigers, and could not make up the distance with the strong tailwind that was blowing.

“We are definitely capable of racing better and have shown that all season in our dual races,” senior Megan Smith said. “For some reason, that I’m not quite sure of, today we didn’t pull out the performance we needed to.”

The varsity four ‘A’ and ‘B’ boats both scored third-place finishes in their respective Grand Final races. Besting rivals Yale (7:39.57) and Princeton (7:51.79), the ‘A’ shell crossed the course in 7:33.50, falling to Cornell (7:23.73) and Brown (7:27.56).

Cornell (7:48.80) also took the “B” race, which does not count for Willing Trophy points, topping the Dartmouth “B” boat (7:58.44) and Radcliffe (8:01.61).

The Black and White novices put in very solid showings as well, with the 1N taking fourth in its Grand Finals and the 2N sixth in its.

Putting in one of its best races of the year, the 1N (6:46.79) edged Georgetown (6:47.28) in a photo finish, finishing about 13 seconds behind the Tigers.

In the morning’s prelims, the 2N stroked to the third-best time, but slipped down to the six spot in the Finals, crossing the line in 7:18.65, a little less than 30 seconds after the Bears.

The winner of each race receives the same number of points as there are participants in the race, with the first varsity eight race counting for slightly more. For instance, if there are 17 boats in the second varsity eight category, the winner gets 17 points and second takes 16 points, while the victor in a 17-team first varsity eight event is awarded 19 points and second gets 17 points.

Such a strong showing in the Sprints certainly sets Radcliffe up well for the NCAA Championships on May 27-29. The Black and White expect an invitation to the meet in Sacramento, Calif., to be forthcoming.

“[The finish at Sprints] is kind of like vindication,” Lambert said. “We’re going to be right there with the top schools in the country. We’ll know on the starting line in Sacramento that we deserve to be there.”

Members of the 2V are looking to nationals as a chance for redemption.

“Assuming we get the bid for nationals, we’re fired up for another shot,” Smith said.

After taking a couple days off to recover from the Sprints, the team will start up with two-a-days, and these upcoming weeks will provide plenty of time for Radcliffe to prepare for NCAAs.

“It’s kind of nice not being ranked No. 1,” Lambert said. “There’s a little bit of an underdog mentality to fuel the fire.”

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