Radcliffe Crew Secures NCAA Bid With Strong Finish at Easterns

This is the first year that the Eastern Sprints have been held on the Cooper River in Camden, NJ and it looks like the change of site bodes well for future Radcliffe crews.

The varsity heavyweights pulled a surprise fourth place finish while the second varsity and novice boats both earned second place. The lightweight crew won third place behind No. 1 Wisconsin and No. 2 Princeton.

The varsity heavyweight crew held a record of 6-5 with a series of tough losses—to Yale and B.U. most recently—heading into the regatta. But the Black and White broke out of its sixth seed to win fourth place out of the 18 boats competing and earn an NCAA berth.

“Normally, you don’t jump up and down with fourth, but it’s huge to place above your seed at Easterns,” said senior co-captain Mayme Hostetter. “We’re really happy with our finish.”

Defending champion Brown earned another title with a time of 6:38.40, following by Princeton at 6:41.45 and Syracuse at 6:41.85.

Radcliffe finished with a time of 6:47.02, avenging previous losses to B.U. and Yale, who pulled times of 6:48.95 and 6:51.12 respectively.

“In both of our races against Brown, we were with them through 600 or 700 [meters],” Hostetter said. “They moved out on us in the second 500. Brown is perennially great. They’re still doing what it takes to win.”

Brown continued its dominance with wins in the second varsity and varsity-four races. In the second varsity race, the Bears pulled a winning time of 6:38.85 followed by Radcliffe’s 6:41.77.

The top-seeded and undefeated Radcliffe varsity four finished in fifth place with a time of 8:03.7, with Brown winning the event with a time of 7:43.5.

“At the 1250 [meter mark], we lost our cox-box and we couldn’t hear the calls from then on,” said freshman Daria Hinz. “But we were getting moved on before we lost the box.”

“That’s another reason why it’s great that we made NCAAs,” Hostetter said. “The [varsity] four will have a chance at revenge. The [second varsity] has been doing great all season and they will get to see Brown again.”

The Black and White first novice boat’s time of 6:53.18 earned second place behind Cornell’s 6:51.3. Radcliffe’s second novice boat pulled into third place with a time of 7:01.98 behind Wisconsin and Brown.

Radcliffe’s impressive finish helped earn the bid to the NCAA championship on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, GA.

“Our bid to NCAA was really dependent on beating Yale and B.U.,” Hostetter said.

In the lightweight races, Radcliffe took third place out of the 12 competing crews.

Predictions held true as No. 1 Wisconsin won the crown with a time of 6:51.4, just beating out No. 2 Princeton’s time of 6:51.95.

The Black and White time of 7:04.60 earned third, the same place Radcliffe achieved in the 2000 Sprints.

“We were really pleased,” said freshman Jennifer Shaw. “It’s hard to compare one year with another, but we’ve made real progress since last year.”

The Radcliffe boat beat out the last three teams by over 10 seconds in the Grand Final, leaving it to race against Wisconsin and Princeton.

“Princeton and Wisconsin were right next to each other so right from the beginning, they were racing each other,” Shaw said. “By 500 meters, we were a boat-length down from them and [ahead] of the other boats, so we were sort-of in our own race.”

The lightweights will return to the Cooper River on June 1-2 to compete in the IRA Championships. Radcliffe has captured five national championships in the past, but must overcome Wisconsin and Princeton to garner another.

“It was a good race, but we have a lot of speed to gain,” Shaw said. “If we have good practices and get through finals okay, we can pull it together. We know we can beat all the other crews out there so we have to go after Princeton and [Wisconsin].”