W. Lightweights Repeat Title

For the third consecutive year, the Radcliffe lightweights exhibited their dominance over West Coast lightweight crews by winning the San Diego Crew Classic in San Diego, Ca., Saturday.

The Black and White eight blazed past six other crews on Mission Bay to cop first place with a 7:36.3 time, almost three seconds and a full boat length ahead of second-place University of British Columbia.

"I was so pumped, I was nuts," coxswain Jen Dodge said. "It was great. I was freakin' out."

While the sunny skies and 80-degree temperatures were a welcome relief for the lights after days of grueling seat racing on the Charles, the crosswinds and the tide pull of the bay made for a difficult and nervous start.

"There was a really wicked crosswind and during the warm-up [right before the race] and it felt sloppy," stroke Martha Welch said. "We had a really hard time getting on the stake boat and we were still sculling when they started to call for the start."

Radcliffe came off the line strongly, however, and was up two seats on the other crews as they headed towards the 500-meter mark of the 2000-meter race.

In the middle 1000 the lights were four seats ahead of UBC and took a power 10 (strokes), gaining three seats and a bow-to-stern margin.

The power 10 was dedicated to Lightweight Coach Holly Metcalfe, who could not be in San Diego for the regatta because of back surgery. Metcalfe sent the rowers roses and a card before the race began.

"It was really inspirational for us to row for Holly back home," two-seat Jessica Deysach said.

With a little less than 500 meters to go, UBC started to sprint and gained half a length on the lights, cutting their margin down to four seats and forcing Radcliffe to take an early sprint.

"No one in the boat was going to let them row through us," six-seat Jackie Saito said, and the Black and White cruised to victory, taking their fourth Crew Classic title in five years.

"They were fantastic and rowed a really good, solid race," said U.S. Olympic and national team rower Abby Peck, who is coaching the team while Metcalfe is out. "They pulled through and did exactly what they needed to do."

The eight's line-up consisted of coxswain Dodge, Welch, seven-seat and Lightweight Co-Captain Sarah Yeates, Saito, Co-Captain Hye-Jin Lim, four-seat Megan Jenks, three-seat Aoibheann Sweeney, Deysach and bow Laura McGiffert.

This year's winning margin of three seconds is the smallest one the lights have had in three years, having won previously by 11- and 13-second spreads. This disparity was largely a result of UBC, first-time competitors in the San Diego Crew Classic.

"It was great [that the race was so close] because it shows that light-weight rowing is making lots of progress," Peck said. "Competition across the country is going to get stiff."