NEW PRESTON, CONN.--Ever hear the old wives' tale that everything bad comes in threes?

Well, for the Radcliffe varsity crew team yesterday, everything came in twos, as the heavyweight varsity eight and the lightweight varsity four both placed second and lost by two seconds in their respective Eastern Sprints races on Lake Waramaug in New Preston, Ct.

The defending-champion heavies (6:25.3) dropped a close contest to Brown (6:23.2), but edged out Ivyrival Yale (6:25.4) by one-tenth of a second to nab the silver medals.

Radcliffe (9-1 Ivy, 20-3 overall) false-started at the beginning of the race, so it was cautious on the next start and subsequently jumped last off the line when the race officially began.

"We've been practicing a new start to get off the line faster, but it was a little too fast," stroke Juliet Thompson said. "I like false-starting because it makes the other crews more nervous."

The Black and White then moved quickly, shaking off Princeton, Cornell and Wisconsin in the first 500 meters to make the race a three-boat contest between Radcliffe, Brown, and Yale.

The heavies soon took the lead, and were up a quarter-length on Brown and Yale through the middle 1000 meters of the race. Brown made its move with about 800 meters to go however, and came even with Radcliffe and pulled ahead in the last 500 to win the race and cop its first Eastern Sprints title.

"We put everything into the middle part of the race--the weakest part was the last 500," Thompson said. "It was a close, fast race and it was great to beat Yale. We are one-and-a-half seconds faster than we were two weeks ago, so we can get three seconds faster in one month [for the national championships on June 5 in Corning, N.Y.]."

The Varsity eight was composed of coxswain Leigh Weiss, stroke Thompson, seven-seat Karen Weltchek, six Mary McCagg, five Betsy McCagg, four Vicky Keane, three Joanna Bench, two Martha Rodgers and bow Jillian Buriak.

"I'm mighty proud of this race," heavyweight Coach Liz O'Leary said. "We raced better than anyone predicted [Radcliffe was seeded number three coming into Sprints], and we'll see what we can do in the next three weeks to beat Brown and Washington and stay ahead of Yale."

The two-time defending champion lightweight varsity four held the lead over the contending University of Cincinnati crew throughout most of its race until severe equipment problems arose at the 1000-meter mark and allowed Cincinnati (7:21.9) to cross the finish line ahead of the Black and White (7:24.1).

Radcliffe was ahead off the start and gained on Cincinnati at 500 meters. At the halfway point of the race, the lights were a length up on the other crew, but then bow-seat Jenny Honig's oarlock broke and the Black and White's rivals moved up and through the lights in the last 500 to win its first lightweight Sprints title.

"At the third 500 we were still up on them--they'd get a seat and we'd pull ahead," coxswain Katia Rorer said. "Then in the last 500 things got rougher for us, and they sprinted through us. Everyone was a little disappointed, but the oarlock was a serious problem.

Cincinnati, which races in the Dad Vail League as a heavyweight four, is happy with its victory and feels confident about facing the Radcliffe four at nationals.

"We don't really talk about who we're racing against, because we can't race that way--we just do what we do," Cincinnati stroke Linda Schneider said. "Radcliffe offered us a challenge at nationals, so we think we'll give them a shot."

The lightweight four was comprised of coxswain Rorer, stroke Hye-Jin Lim, three Sarah Allums, two Allison Pugh, and bow Honig.

"It was a good, gutsy race," lightweight coach Jennie Marshall said. "I hope that Cinncinatti brings that four to nationals, because we're going to beat them."

There was no lightweight eight event this year, so the Black and White put its defending-champion eight into two fours. Radcliffe `B' placed fourth in the grand final behind third-place Ohio State, and Radcliffe `C' came in second in the lightweight four petit final.