The lightweight eights were originally scheduled to race Massachusetts on Saturday and only Rhode Island yesterday, but Saturday’s race was rained out, and MIT was added to yesterday’s slate. The tougher matchup was welcomed by the team, but in the end there was no competition.

The Black and White expected MIT to be a tough competitor, since MIT returned nearly all the members of its boat that placed fourth at the IRA national championships last year, right behind the third-place Radcliffe boat.

“This morning was all about battling MIT,” Lockwood said. “They are a strong crew this year and being able to accomplish a decisive win against them is very exciting. It highlights the fact that we have gotten even faster, and stronger, from the end of last year. We put many hours into practice—both on and off the water—and it’s great to see it paying off.”

As for the race itself, Radcliffe had a rough start, but pulled together for one of its strongest finishes of the year.

“Our first 1000 meters were a little shaky, with only one real power move around 400 meters into the race,” Lockwood said. “But starting with our bridge move at the Mass Ave. bridge we hit our stride and took off. From then on we gained speed with each stroke and broke away from MIT.”

“Finalizing the race, we had one of our best sprints yet this season, which was especially nice to accomplish given that we were challenged at this point in the race,” Lockwood added.

URI finished a distant third and was not a factor in the race.

“They are a relatively new program and it is great to see so many lightweight crews springing forth each year,” Lockwood said. “But it takes a while to gain speed and URI is just not developed yet [as a lightweight program].”

The lightweights also raced a four on Saturday, which won by almost 13 seconds over Northeastern and UMass.

The Black and White next races No. 7 Georgetown on the Charles next Saturday, its last race before a huge rematch with No. 2 Princeton and No. 8 MIT the following week.

W. HEAVYWEIGHT CREW

O’Leary Cup at Onondaga Lake, Syracuse, N.Y.

1st Varsity Eight: 1. Radcliffe 6:52.9; 2. Syracuse 6:57.9; 3. Dartmouth 7:20.9

2nd Varsity Eight 1. Radcliffe 7:09.7; 2. Syracuse 7:16.2; 3. Dartmouth 7:33.3