The No. 5 Radcliffe heavyweight crew led wire-to-wire to decisively capture the Rowlands Cup over Northeastern and Boston College on the Charles River.

In the first race of the season for the Black and White, the defending NCAA champions, the first varsity covered the 2,000-meter course in 6:56.1, three lengths ahead of runner-up Boston College (7:07.9) while Northeastern (7:08.5) finished third.

The Black and White, rowing at 32 strokes per minute through much of the race, built its lead to two lengths by the time it reached the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge, the halfway point of the race.

The Black and White second varsity (7:17.4) also won convincingly, edging BC (7:34.6) by five lengths and Northeastern (7:41.6) by an even greater margin.

The first novices and both varsity A and B fours scored victories as well. BC took the second novice race.

The No. 1 Radcliffe lightweight crew topped No. 3 Stanford and No. 5 Georgetown, but fell to No. 2 Princeton at the Windermere Cup in Redwood Shores, Calif.

The Tigers reached the finish line in 6:55.38, three seconds ahead of the Crimson (6:58.38).

The Harvard varsity eight bounced back to top the Cardinal by 7.7 seconds and the Hoyas by two.