HEAVYWEIGHTS

The two-day Clemson Invitational featured heat racing on Saturday, with the finals held on Sunday. Both days were characterized by 20+ mph gusting crosswinds that made for very challenging race conditions.

The first varsity eight finished third in its heat behind Indiana and Washington State and posted a time of 7:09.4, good for the fifth-fastest time across all heats. On Sunday, Radcliffe followed up Saturday’s result with a fourth-place finish in the final, with a time of 6:57.8, falling to UCLA, Wisconsin, and Indiana.

The second varsity eight was the highlight of the weekend for the Black and White, winning its heat on Saturday and placing second on Sunday after losing to Indiana by five-tenths of a second.

“Moving from [Saturday’s] race into Sunday, we really wanted to improve on our finish,” senior Eliza Flint said. “Yesterday, we let Indiana back into the race near the finish, so we wanted to have a good sprint today and we did. We really walked through and caught up during the sprint.”

The Radcliffe varsity four also had a strong weekend, placing third in its heat on Saturday before dropping almost thirty seconds for a second place finish on Sunday.

“It was crazy conditions out there all weekend,” Flint said. “It was taking boats twenty to thirty minutes just to lock onto the starting blocks. Racing in those conditions is always challenging, but rowing on the Charles has actually prepared us quite well so the crosswinds this weekend were nothing new for us. I think that showed up in the results.”

—Staff writer Ty Aderhold can be reached at michael.aderhold@thecrimson.com.