Between the 500- and 1000-meter mark, Radcliffe made its move, passing both the Huskies and the Trojans to take the lead. Washington fell to fifth, as Stanford, Michigan and Virginia leapfrogged ahead.

By the 1500-meter mark, Radcliffe had steamed forward a full three seconds ahead of the competition. The Huskies had also gained distance on the field, pulling themselves within a half-second of the Wolverines and setting up a climactic finish.

“Our coxswain, Julie Gluck, kept calling the position of our boat,” Brown noted. “She kept us on top of our game.”

The Black and White sealed its part of the deal, cruising to a one-and-a-half second victory. Washington fought hard but faded to fourth at the finish, thus falling behind Brown into third place in the overall team standings.

In the second varsity Grand Final, the Radcliffe crew held fifth place through the 500- and 1000-meter marks. The Black and White pressed hard during the next 500 meters, moving into fourth. However, in the stretch run, Radcliffe was bested by a late-surging Princeton team, knocking the Black and White boat back to fifth.

“We had our strongest race all season,” said junior Sara Clark. “We had been in fourth, but we got waked, and it screwed with our sprint—otherwise we would have held onto fourth.”

—Staff writer John R. Hein can be reached at hein@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.