The Smith lightweight crew team that won the Eastern Sprints last year graduated three of its top rowers.

That fact never concerned the Radcliffe varsity lightweight squad, though, when it took to the Charles River Saturday morning.

"It was a grudge match," Radcliffe's Nina Streeter said afterwards. "They're not quite as strong as they were last year, but we still wanted to beat them."

And so the Black and White lights rowed as if it were the Sprints, sprinting to an eight second victory over the visiting defending Eastern Sprint champions.

The impressive win upped the light's season record to 3-0 and established Radcliffe as the team to beat when the Sprints roll around next month. With its win over Penn last weekend and Saturday's triumph over Smith, the Black and White has now toppled its toughest competition.

The toughest competition Saturday, though, may have come from the Charles River Racing in the basin, the crews had to fight off choppy waters and windy conditions, as well as course changes during the race.

But Radcliffe jumped out to a commanding lead, and that was all it took to hold off a Smith charge and record a 6.05 85 to 6.14 38 win.

With its lineup finally set. Radcliffe will now move on to New Haven and a date there Saturday with Yale.

In other lightweight action Saturday, the Radcliffe lightweight four sandwiched a first and third around a Wellesley second place finish. The Radcliffe 'A' boat outdistanced Wellesley, 4.14 01 to 4.21 35. The Black and White's 'B' boat finished third in 4.02 43.

Measles

With the Dartmouth heavyweight crew still in Hanover. N. H.--protecting Cambridge from the German Measles epidemic that has plagued the Big Green campus--the only Radcliffe heavyweight action of the weekend came against Wellesley.

The Black and White heavyweight four outdistanced Wellesley by two seconds in the day's final race.