The Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges (EAWRC) Sprints is one of the biggest races of the year.

The Radcliffe crews knew this yesterday. Unfortunately, the crews from Brown, Princeton and Virginia knew this, too.

Rowing on Lake Waramaug in New Preston, Conn., the EAWRC No. 4 Radcliffe varsity heavyweights could not break into the upper echelon of boats in the finals.

Coming in at 6:12.4, the Black-and-White finished in fourth place, just ahead of Wisconsin's 6:14.1 and Boston University's 6:16.3.

But No.1 Brown crossed the line at 6:02.1, a good 10-plus seconds in front of Radcliffe.

Just behind the Bears were No. 2 Princeton and No. 3 Virginia, speeding to times of 6:04.2 and 6:05.2, respectively.

The Radcliffe varsity lightweights, in their only race of the day, came in third out of four teams, finishing behind Princeton and Virginia and ahead of Wisconsin.

Princeton's time of 6:31.2 was better than Virginia's 6:36.3 and Radcliffe's 6:37.5. Wisconsin finished with a time of 6:49.1.

In the second varsity heavyweight race, Radcliffe could not overcome the Brown-Princeton-Virginia stronghold on the top three spots, again finishing in fourth place.

Virginia and Brown went down to the wire in the race with the Cavaliers winning in 6:14.0 and the Bears just behind in 6:14.1.

Penn and B.U. were fifth and sixth, respectively.

The varsity fours race was more of the same, with Radcliffe coming in fifth behind Brown, Virginia, Princeton and a second Brown boat.

The Black-and-White finished in 7:19.5, behind Brown's 7:08.4, Virginia's 7:14.0, Princeton's 7:14.6 and the second Brown boat's 7:18.6.

Syracuse, the sixth-place crew, crossed the line in 7:34.4.

Radcliffe's novice eight won the petite (consolation) final with a time of 6:32.4, ahead of Wisconsin by 2.4 seconds.

The second novice eight finished in second in the petite final with a time of 6:56.8, just behind Virginia's 6:52.4.

In the race for the Chick Willing Points Trophy, which measures a team's success across the races, Radcliffe finished in fourth, behind first-place Brown and Princeton and Virginia, who tied for second place.

The Radcliffe heavyweight crew closes the season at the NCAA Championships May 28, on Lake Natoma in Sacramento, Calif.

The lightweights will finish their season with the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championships May 27-29, on Cooper River in Camden, N.J.