Radcliffe lost to Brown by nine seconds and Princeton by seven earlier in the season.

"We knew it was just us and Princeton," junior Mindy Sick said. "We figured we had improved enough to beat Brown."

A slow start left the novices in fourth for the first 750 meters. By the 1000-meter mark, Radcliffe had pulled into third, down four seats to Brown and a length to Princeton, according to Sick.

With 800 meters to go, the Black and White took a power piece and moved into second place, three seats ahead of Brown but still six seats behind Princeton.

Liz Bailey, the Radcliffe coxwain, called an unusually long 400-meter sprint but couldn't close within two seats of the Tigers.

"That was the longest sprint I've ever rowed," Sick said. "We got to within two or three down, but then they started to sprint and we couldn't take any more."

Lights in the Sky

In the lightweight races, the Radcliffe "A" boat--which has yet to lose a race all year--demolished Ford-ham, 7:53.1 to 8:02.6.

The Radcliffe "B" lightweights finished third with a time of 8:09.8, followed by the MIT "A" and "B" boats in 8:28.7 and 8:39.2, respectively.

The nine-second margin of victory was the smallest of the season for Radcliffe. Against Simmons, on April 3, Radcliffe won by a previous close of 20 seconds.