Still, Radcliffe was 25 seconds closer to Princeton than it had been only two weeks ago.

“It definitely didn’t feel like the best race,” sophomore Bonnie Scott said. “But I don’t think we let it fluster us too much.”

In fact, the weather made the Black and White’s performance even more impressive.

“Twelve seconds in a race that was that slow because of the conditions isn’t that big a margin,” sophomore Avaleigh Milne said.

* * *

On Friday, the Radcliffe crews leave for Eastern Sprints Championships, which will be held on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J. Some of the boats will be riding high after this weekend’s performances, while others will have to recover quickly from disappointment. Either way, they all know nothing will come easy.

“[At Eastern Sprints,] it’s never going to be a huge victory,” Smith said. “It’s always a dog fight.”