“[The first varsity eight] was our first win [of the day], and they had a really strong base speed, which is I think what is at the root of a successful team,” O’Leary said. “If your base speed is good, then you can build off of that. Today was the first time that I had sort of seen them race aggressively at base and that was encouraging.”

The varsity fours crew employed a similar strategy to pull out its own victory, making a surge in the middle 1000 meters to cross the finish line nearly five seconds ahead of the Tigers’ boat.

The second varsity eight represented Radcliffe’s only loss in an NCAA qualifying event on the day.

The crew, which finished in 6:23.4, found itself five seconds behind Princeton.

Finishing out the day for the Black and White were the second varsity fours crew and the fourth varsity eights, which finished second and third, respectively, while the Tigers reigned victorious.

For O’Leary, the victories are an indicator not just of the progress that her team has made thus far, but of the work remaining in the spring season.

“To win two of those events today was an important step for us,” O’Leary said. “I know that school is winding down, but for us the season is just winding up, so this is a good start, but it’s just one race.”

—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samanthalin@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @linsamnity.