This is the first year that the Eastern Sprints have been held on the Cooper River in Camden, NJ and it looks like the change of site bodes well for future Radcliffe crews.

The varsity heavyweights pulled a surprise fourth place finish while the second varsity and novice boats both earned second place. The lightweight crew won third place behind No. 1 Wisconsin and No. 2 Princeton.

The varsity heavyweight crew held a record of 6-5 with a series of tough losses—to Yale and B.U. most recently—heading into the regatta. But the Black and White broke out of its sixth seed to win fourth place out of the 18 boats competing and earn an NCAA berth.

“Normally, you don’t jump up and down with fourth, but it’s huge to place above your seed at Easterns,” said senior co-captain Mayme Hostetter. “We’re really happy with our finish.”

Defending champion Brown earned another title with a time of 6:38.40, following by Princeton at 6:41.45 and Syracuse at 6:41.85.

Radcliffe finished with a time of 6:47.02, avenging previous losses to B.U. and Yale, who pulled times of 6:48.95 and 6:51.12 respectively.

“In both of our races against Brown, we were with them through 600 or 700 [meters],” Hostetter said. “They moved out on us in the second 500. Brown is perennially great. They’re still doing what it takes to win.”

Brown continued its dominance with wins in the second varsity and varsity-four races. In the second varsity race, the Bears pulled a winning time of 6:38.85 followed by Radcliffe’s 6:41.77.