Radcliffe and the Big Red jostled for second place with Radcliffe holding the edge by the halfway mark of the race, but ultimately fell to a late surge by Cornell, its time of 6:48.1 just behind the Big Red’s 6:46.1.

“It was disappointing falling short of Cornell in the [varsity eight],” said Black and White heavyweight captain Olivia Coffey. “It was a really hard fought race, but in the end Cornell just squeezed us out. However, there are really easy technical things that we can fix that can give us a two-second edge in future meets. But it was disappointing losing to Cornell, but they did deserve it.”

NO. 4 RADCLIFFE LIGHTWEIGHTS VS. NO. 5 GEORGETOWN

In the first real test of the dual meet season for the Black and White lightweights, the fourth-ranked squad faced off against No. 5 Georgetown in the Potomac River last Saturday.

Following their final strokes in the water, the Radcliffe lightweights walked away with not only their first trophy of the spring season—as they took home the Class of 2004 cup for the fifth time in the trophy’s seven-year history—but also with their first victory against a top-five opponent this year.

The Black and White took an early lead over the Hoyas and led by a boat length as the two crews reached the 1,000-meter mark.

However, in the closing lengths of the course, Georgetown surged forward to close the gap with Radcliffe, but in the end, the Black and White lightweights proved to be too experienced and strong for the Hoyas.

Radcliffe’s varsity eight finished first with a time of 6:51.0, while Georgetown finished in 6:52.4.

—Staff writer Oluwatoni A. Campbell can be reached at oluwatoni.campbell@college.harvard.edu.