W. Lights Speed Away; Heavies Have Trouble

It was one side up and the other side down for the Radcliffe crews in 1996, as the lightweights qualified for Nationals but the heavies stumbled to a 3-6 record.

For the light boat, not too much went wrong. After beginning the season with a close, four-second loss to Villanova at the San Diego Crew Classic over spring break, the Black and White stormed out on a three-race winning streak, defeating UMass, Syracuse/Columbia and New Hampshire, all by comfortable margins.

Very comfortable margins, that is. The closest race was the Syracuse/Columbia three-way meet, with the Black and White winning by seven seconds over the Orangemen and 12 seconds over the Lions.

Against UMass, however, Radcliffe won by 15 seconds, and in the UNH contest, both Radcliffe boats crossed before UNH did, with the A Boat defeating the Wildcats by a gaudy 55-second margin.

That was the last race before the EAWRC Sprints Championships, from which crews can qualify for Nationals, which will take place on June 8.

At Sprints, the competition got harder but the outcome remained unchanged, as the Black and White got off to a quick start in the finals and extended its lead throughout the race.

The second boat also fared well, overcoming a bad start in the finals to finish in second place.

The heavyweights did not fare as well as their lighter counterparts. Radcliffe's only first-place finish all year came near the end of the season against Boston University in a five-second victory.

The rest of the season saw both close losses and not-so-close losses. Radcliffe almost edged out Boston College and Dartmouth but also lost to Princeton and Cornell by over 20 seconds and fell to Yale twice by over five seconds.

Besides B.U., Radcliffe defeated MIT and Syracuse by finishing second in three-way races.

The Black and White then hoped to salvage some of its season at Sprints, but could only muster a fifth-place finish at the Petite Level Final, the second-tier race. Radcliffe had originally hoped to make the Grand Level Finals, but it wasn't to be.

Harvard Sports Stats 1995-96

Women's Crew

Record: 3-8 (H), 4-0 (L)

Head Coach: Liz O'Leary (H), Carol Feeney (L)

Captains: Cary Donaldson '96 (H), Sophie Bryan '96 (L)

Other Key Players: Jen Sessions '96 (H), Laura Brookins '96 (L)