Tough Weather Intensifies Competition

The first great nor’easter of 2007 expects to hit in full force today. But after three races this weekend in brutal weather, the Radcliffe lightweight and heavyweight crews have already had enough.

Facing 15-20 mph winds, cold and overcast skies, and an overall miserable state of things, the No. 6 heavyweight women struggled in the morning heat on the Charles Saturday.

And as a result of impending storm yesterday, the lightweight women were forced to cram two days of competition into one on Saturday. After racing two earlier heats in the day, Radcliffe had no gas left in the tank for the finals of the first varsity eight.

Despite all of this, the team still secured a third-place finish in addition to a first-place result for its novice eight.

“We had done a lot of racing,” sophomore Kayla Feld said.” “Three races is a lot to do in one day.”

SUNDAY

Coming to the Charles River to face Radcliffe for the first time in its history, Columbia left town with a staggering defeat, as the Black and White captured all four races against the Lions by significant margins.

The varsity eight streaked to an easy victory, winning by over 17 seconds with a time of 6:41.6. The second varsity eight posted an even more dominating effort, beating out Columbia by 33.6 seconds.

In the varsity four B race, Radcliffe B and C took second and third, respectively, with Boston University placing first with a time of 7:58.6.

O’LEARY CUP

Domination was the name of the game for Radcliffe against Dartmouth from the outset of the O’Leary Cup.

The crew won four straight over the Big Green from 2002-2005, defending the Cup that means a little more for the Black and White—the cup draws its namesake from the squad’s head coach, Liz O’Leary.

But last year, all that changed, as Dartmouth edged out Radcliffe to take back the Cup.

And this season, unfortunately for the No.6 Black and White, history repeated itself.

The Big Green once again narrowly beat out the crew, this time by two seconds, notching a 7.40.1 finish compared to Radcliffe’s 7.42.1 result in the morning race.

Again in the evening, the Black and White could not make up the time and came in behind Dartmouth, despite racing stronger and cleaner in this heat.

Both boats, however, fell behind No. 2 Southern California, which won the varsity and second varsity eights in addition to the varsity four races.

“Yesterday morning was not a very good race for us,” freshman Ariel Shaker said. “We were pretty frustrated with ourselves and with the conditions.”

“We felt a lot better with the second race,

she added. “It was frustrating to lose, but it was a lot cleaner and stronger race for us.”

But the team is certain that it can find more speed and work until the NCAAs to get there.

“As a team, this weekend, we recognized a lot of the things we need to work on for the rest of the year,” Shaker said.

KNECHT CUP

As the day went on for the Black and White, the results were all good. The first varsity eight notched a nine-second victory in its first heat over Georgetown, avenging a loss earlier in the season at the Class of 2004 Cup.

In addition, the second varsity eight fought for a second-place finish in their heat, and the novice eight won the Grand Final of the competition, defeating rival Princeton by almost 12 seconds, coming in with a time of 7.02.7 to the Tigers’ 7.14.4.

But somewhere between the first heats of the varsity eights and the novice’s triumph, the team hit a rough patch.

Whether it was due to the fatigue, which naturally set in as a result of the first varsity eight racing in both the heavyweight and lightweight divisions, or the constantly changing lineups in the varsity eight, the Black and White could not find ultimate success, as it ended up in third-place in the varsity eight final.

In the final, Wisconsin captured victory with a time of 6.55.7, Georgetown came in second with 7.06.9, and Radcliffe came in 12 seconds behind with a time of 7.18.2.

The second varsity eight for the Black and White then notched a fourth-place finish with a time of 7.33.4.

Despite not coming away with the title, the crew still finds substantial positives in the race that are moving the team forward.

“In general, the team feels like we are moving in the right direction,” captain Jennifer Chung said. “We’re trying a lot of new things this year, especially in the first varsity eight—different people trying new seats that they are not used to.”

This flexibility of people, positions, and stroke combination on the boat is difficult to get used to.

But the team sees this as a process; these are the steps necessary to finding the most speed for its first varsity eight, to get the fastest team possible come championship time at the IRAs.

“I think we’ll be making dramatic changes all the way up to IRAs,” Feld said. “We’ve been trying really new things—every time we are going into races, we are trying new techniques for training.”

“The further along we [go] in the season, the more interesting it will get,” Chung added.

But for now, a first-, third-, and fourth-place showing, in addition to advancing to the semifinals of the heavyweight division of the Knecht Cup, gives the crew confidence for the weeks to come.

“This shows a lot of depth in the program,” Chung said. “We not only have a fast varsity eight, but a fast second varsity eight, novice eight, and our varsity four raced strong as well.”

—Staff writer Karan Lodha contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Walter E. Howell can be reached at wehowell@fas.harvard.edu.