Harvard-Radcliffe Heavyweights Struggle Against Staunch Competition at Ivy Invitational

No. 17 Harvard-Radcliffe women’s heavyweight rowing fell to strong competition at the Ivy Invitational in Princeton, N.J., on Saturday.

Racing against No. 6 Princeton, No. 7 University of Virginia, No. 8 Syracuse, and Cornell, the Black and White failed to notch a first-place finish during the regatta.

Nevertheless, Harvard-Radcliffe finished runner-up in the first varsity four and in the top three of all but one of the four-boat races this weekend.

The weather across the northeast was uncharacteristically warm last weekend, and the crew team was met with sunny skies and significant early-morning wind in New Jersey. After a short layoff following a strong performance in the Ohio State Regatta last weekend, which saw the Black and White claim five first-place finishes, Harvard-Radcliffe faced its most stout competition so far this spring.

The day began with the second varsity eight finishing third in 7:33.985 after losing to second-place Syracuse by less than a second and first-place Princeton by just over seven seconds.

The varsity eight had an identical third-place result in the next race, although the gap between the Black and White and the second-place Orange was more than 18 seconds.

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Then, in the first varsity four, Harvard-Radcliffe could not overcome the Tigers once more. The Black and White took second with its time of 8:18.092 — beating third-place Syracuse by more than six seconds — but fell just short of the host, who won the first three races.

The third varsity eight saw Syracuse win its first race of the day. Harvard-Radcliffe finished in fourth in 8:36.342.

The second varsity four and third varsity four wrapped up the morning session with two third-place finishes behind the Tigers and the Orange.

In the afternoon, Harvard-Radcliffe competed head-to-head against Virginia, but failed to defeat the staunch competition in any of the three duels.

A bright spot from the later session’s head-to-head races was the first varsity four race, where the Black and White fell just four seconds short of the Cavaliers.

In the final race of the afternoon session, Harvard-Radcliffe’s B and C boats fell to Virginia’s B and C boats in a multi-boat fours race.

Harvard-Radcliffe will next race for the Case Cup against Yale on April 25 in Derby, Conn., before ending the regular season with women’s sprints on May 3 in Worcester, Mass.

—Staff writer Samuel S. Rudavsky can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @samrudavsky.

—Staff writer Emma Leifer can be reached at [email protected].