The Radcliffe varsity lightweight crew annihilated Dartmouth on the Big Green's own Connecticut River Saturday by an astounding 32-second margin.

The lights, rowing in two fours instead of an eight (Radcliffe A and B), faced Dartmouth's third varsity heavyweight four, but still managed to cruise to first and second place finishes with respective times of 7:07.6 and 7:30.7. Dartmouth (7:39.4) finished in third.

"It went pretty well, we were pretty psyched," bow seat Sarah Allums said. "We didn't know what to expect [racing Dartmouth's heavies], and it was great to win by such a big margin."

Radcliffe "A" was shaky at the start--the boat almost veered into Dartmouth's lane and disqualified itself from the race. The official straightened the paths of the two boats, however, and the lights moved out to take a commanding lead over Dartmouth.

The lights then took a power ten at 530 meters and a power 20 to 1000 meters, moves lightweight captain Allison Pugh called "particularly strong." The strategy helped Radcliffe capture its second race of the season and up its Eastern League record to 3-0.

Next Saturday, the lightweights (rowing in fours) will race Wellesley and Smith on the Charles.

The heavyweight JV boat also had an ample time of it, defeating Dartmouth by a comfortable nine-second margin, and third-place Syracuse by 14 seconds.

"It was a really good race for us," JV coxswain Katia Rorer said. "The people in the boat said they rowed better than they ever rowed before in that race. We moved all through the race, moved through each segment, and got more out of each 500 [meters]. Everything about our race plan worked."

The first novice boat pulverized second-place Dartmouth by almost disqualified for using the wrong lane.

Radcliffe's second novice boat beat Syracuse by nine seconds and the novice four finished second behind the Big Green.

Radcliffe will take on Yale this weekend.

THE NOTEBOOK: Martha Rodgers rowed in the Radcliffe "A" three seat on Saturday, replacing Vicky Keane....Jenny Honig and Sarah Yates moved into the lightweight "B" four, replacing two and three seats Hye Jim Lim and Sarah Frankel.