With the life of its sponsoring school on the downward slope, the No. 8 Radcliffe heavyweight crew put that fact behind it Saturday to win one for the 'Cliffer.

"As far as I know, we keep our name and our black and white colors," captain Kate Tomford said. "I hope that doesn't change."

The Black-and-White handily won the three varsity races to win the Case Cup against Yale and No. 9 Wisconsin on the Housatonic River in Derby, Conn.

In the first varsity race, Radcliffe, aided by a strong tail wind and tail current, glided to victory with a blistering time of 6:27.8. Wisconsin placed second at 6:33.6 and Yale finished in third at 6:51.7.

The race started with a stagger because the course centered around a bend in the river at about the 1000-meter mark. Radcliffe had the inside lane.

"We started down and were still down throughout the first 500," Tomford said. "We moved through around the turn, and Yale fell behind quickly."

Radcliffe increased its lead throughout the second 1000 meters for the victory.

"The conditions weren't great, and I think we could work on dealing with the conditions better," Tomford said. "I think we were pleased with the results overall."

The second varsity race ended the same way, with Radcliffe in at 6:41.1, Wisconsin in at 6:47.3 and Yale in at 6:51.7.

The varsity fours, a race in which Wisconsin didn't participate, was again a Radcliffe victory, but this time, it was a tight race coming into the final sprint. Yale's time of 6:56.3 was second to Radcliffe's 7:29.8.

Yale defeated Radcliffe in both the first and second novice races.

In the first race, Yale's time of 6:48.4 was the team's fastest on the day and was good enough to top Radcliffe's 7:06.6.

The second race was a little slower, with Radcliffe crossing the line at 7:12.3, well behind Yale's 7:03.8.

"The Yale novices were undefeated this season," Tomford said, "So that was a particularly challenging race for the freshman."

The Radcliffe win marks the tie-breaker in the Radcliffe-Yale series, which is now 12-11 in Radcliffe's favor, dating back to 1976. Radcliffe has now won three in a row over the Elis.