Brandishing silver medals and holding onto the best seasonal record in the East, the Radcliffe black and white lights garnered second place and a chance at a national invitation bid at the Eastern Sprints yesterday. The Radcliffe heavies, seeded sixth, surprised many by finishing fourth to wind up their season on an upstroke.

Rowing on glass-smooth Lake Waramug, Conn., with a slight tailwind, the heavies turned in one of their best performances this season, succumbing late in the race to stronger crews from Yale (first in 4:53.3), Princeton and Boston University. Stroking at a high cadence and finishing the last 500 meters of the course rowing both two power twenties and upping the cadence on beat every ten strokes, the heavies staved off a fierce University of Pennsylvania boat to bury any doubts about their sixth-place seed coming into the race.

"To finish fourth with the flurry of power at the end like we did made it a great race," five-seat Katie Kelley said. The heavy boat started the race at a strong 45 acdence for the first 15 strokes, settling into a very fast 38 strokes per minute race.

"I was proud of the tenacity of our boat," cox Meg Ziegler said. "We rowed the last 30 strokes of the race as intense as I've ever seen."

Unlike the lights, the heavies came away with no medals. "Coming back to Cambridge we didn't have any material manifestations--but that's not why we go through the pain to row anyhow," Ziegler said.

Meanwhile the Radcliffe "light and loose," as they like to be called, were edged by MIT in a closely fought contest that wasn't determined until the last 20 strokes. The Radcliffe J.V. surprised everyone by jumping to an early lead, scaring MIT and daring the Radcliffe varsity into lengthening and strengthening its strokes.

At the 500 meter mark, the Radcliffe varsity boat pulled a power ten and moved away from the pack. At the 1000 meter mark. MIT made its move on the rest. The final 40 strokes of the race were at all-out speed with the MIT boat and the varsity Radcliffe boat trading seat for seat in a see-saw battle to the finish.

The finish saw MIT winning (5:06.4) by five seats over the first varsity Radcliffe boat (5:09) with the Radcliffe J.V. boat (with six seniors in it) taking third over a conquered University of Nebraska Cornhusker crew in a time of 5:20.

"The race was a battle and a blast finishing second and third," lights captain Suzanne Hassell said. "Our times were only seconds away from the times turned in by the heavies in their race."

"We were psyched for the race--if only we had another 200 meters we might have had MIT. We would love to race them again," varsity six-seat Nicki Mauro said.

"For the six senior women on the J.V. boat it was a great way to end their rowing at Harvard," Carol Buttenwieser, the 105-lb. stroke of the J.V. boat, said. "Not only did we capture third, but it was the first time a Radcliffe boat had ever earned a mideal."

The larger Nebraska crew intently watched the J.V. boat, which averages about ten pounds less than it is allowed, and saw the J.V.'s bronze medals as the team pulled close to the dock.

"It was a rocky race, but everybody pulled their hardest--the boat really came together." J.V. six-seat Betsy Harper said, and three-seat Natalie Roe agreed. "The gain of owing was definitely worth the pain when you have a race like today," she said.

The 4-0 record is "still the best in the East--we should have a shot at nationals and a re-match with MIT if the funding comes through," varsity seven-seat Amy Donovan said.

In other New Presten races, the black and white showed real pride and performance. The J.V. heavies finished fourth in the petite finals, while the freshmen showed their rowing style and strength with the first novice boat, missing their finals by nine-tenths of a second, but winning the petite consolation race in 5:14. The second novice boat qualified for its final and came in third.