Although they were rowing on opposite coasts this past weekend, the Radcliffe varsity lightweight and heavyweight crew teams had equally easy times crushing their respective opponents.

The lights captured the gold medal in the San Diego Crew Classic women's eight finals held on Mission Bay, while the heavies knocked off MIT and Northeastern at home on the Charles.

Radcliffe's lightweights annihilated the University of California at Santa Barbara by 13 second and four boat lengths--the second largest margin of the day.

The Black and White dominated 11 other crews, winning the final event in seven minutes and four seconds to capture the same race it won two years ago.

The Radcliffe lightweights, who went undefeated last year and won the Eastern Sprints and nationals, did not compete in the Classic last year.

"Although we did have a longstanding winning tradition to stand up to, we were psyched about winning," lightweight Captain Allison Pugh said. "We definitely saw a good portion of our competition out there--hopefully this was our toughest race."

Heavies Home For the Holiday's

After winning the consolation finals of the San Diego Classic two years ago, the heavyweights stayed home for the second straight year, destroying MIT and Northeastern in their first official race of the season.

Radcliffe pulverized the second-place Engineers by a 13-second margin, matching the lightweights' feat in San Diego.

"I think my kids rowed as well as they could row," MIT Coach Mayrene Earle said. "I'm excited about what Radcliffe crew can do. I understand that they weren't moving the boat as fast as they could have [because of injuries]. I'm looking forward to a good year for them."

"I was really happy with how they rowed [the varsity heavies]," first-year Radcliffe Coach Liz O'Leary said. "Whenever you have conditions like that [strong wind and rain] you never really know what's going to happen."

The heavyweights went undefeated in regular-season competition last year and finished as runner-up to Wisconsin University, the defending national champion, in the Eastern Sprints.

"The varsity has high expectations this year," O'Leary said. "Consequently, everyone is out to beat Radcliffe. We have to stay on our toes."

"I thought it went all right for the first meet," team member Alison Townley said. "MIT and Northeastern aren't our toughest competition, but it's nice to build confidence before facing Princeton."

The Radcliffe heavies, lights and novices will face Princeton and Cornell on the Charles Saturday morning.