1996

Sports Statistics

Record: Heavies: 6-5, 1-6 Regattal Lights: 8-0, 6-0 Regatta

Coach: Heavies: Liz O'Leary; Lights: Aubrey Borland

1997

It has been another stellar year for the two Radcliffe Crew teams, but in markedly different ways.

The lightweights appear to be on their way to being labeled a "dynasty" while the heavyweights continued to show improvement and capped their season with a wild-card bid to the inaugural heavyweight national championships.

Lightweights

As the defending national champions, the Black and White had a lot to live up to this season. Every benchmark has been passed heading into next weekend's national championships in Camden, New Jersey.

The spring season started with an early race against Northeastern's heavyweights that would begin Radcliffe's undefeated regular season. The Black and White dominated by eight seconds.

The next step was to head out to the San Diego Classic where Radcliffe would get its first look at archrival Villanova. This was the first real test of the season, and Radcliffe passed with flying colors.

The Black and White crossed the finish line in 7:32.88, well ahead of the Wildcats at 7:39.44. The rest of the seven-boat field was never in contention.

'Nova was ready for revenge as Radcliffe and UMass traveled to Philadelphia the next weekend. However the Wildcats again proved no match for the Black and White.

This time Radcliffe posted a slightly more impressive 7.2-second win--equivalent to a two boatlength margin--over Villanova. This was supposed to be the big challenge, but it proved to be a one-sided rivalry.

The next week saw the Radcliffe fours posting victories over the Dartmouth and Syracuse heavies. The eights continued their dominance as Virginia and Massachusetts fell in the next two weeks by seven and nine-second margins respectively.