No. 4 Radcliffe Lights Close Dual Campaign vs. No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 7 MIT

Linda Muri (right) poses with both crews, including Radcliffe's Grace Hollowell and Jana Douglas (both pictured), after last year's Muri Cup regatta.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The No. 4 Radcliffe lightweight crew closes its dual season by racing Cambridge neighbor MIT for the Linda Muri Cup with top-ranked Wisconsin participating as a guest in the cup regatta Saturday morning on the Charles River.

Radcliffe Racing Schedule
6:36 a.m. – Heavyweight Varsity Four B
7 a.m. – Heavyweight Third Varsity Eight
7:36 a.m. – Heavyweight Varsity Four A
8:12 a.m. – Heavyweight Second Varsity Eight
8:48 a.m. – Heavyweight Varsity Eight
9:12 a.m. – Lightweight Varsity Eight
9:36 a.m. – Lightweight Second Varsity/Novice Eights
10 a.m. – Lightweight Varsity Four

Radcliffe Lightweight Lineups
Varsity Eight
Cox: Jana Douglas, 8: Marissa Reichel, 7: Natalie Wong, 6: Lizzy Bates, 5: Kelly McCarthy, 4: Emma Lukasiewicz, 3: Elizabeth Hamilton, 2: Erika McCormick, 1: Amanda Pfabe

Second Varsity Eight
Cox: Maryana Vrubel, 8: Grace Hollowell, 7: Charlotte Lane, 6: Lauren Brown, 5: Veronique Irwin, 4: Wynne Evans, 3: Medha Khandelwal, 2: Erin Flynn, 1: Laurel Gabard-Durnam

Varsity Four
Cox: Kyla Adler-McDonald, 2: Danielle Guillette, 3: Juliana Stone, 2: Emily Boyd Walker, 1: Anna Mapes

Novice Eight
Cox: Jorie Sullivan, 8: Lillian Alexander, 7: Julia Mason, 6: Corinne Wee, 5: Andrea Henricks, 4: Kathryn Stephens, 3: Emiko Zumbro, 2: Kathleen Goodwin, 1: Rina Perrault

Last Weekend
The Black and White varsity eight defeated No. 5 Bucknell and lost to No. 3 Princeton while the novice eight dominated the Tigers at the Class of 1999 Cup regatta Saturday morning on Lake Carnegie. There were three different lead changes in the varsity race, with Princeton eventually holding off Radcliffe by 2.3 seconds. The Black and White finished 14 seconds ahead of the Bison, who placed second at last season's IRA National Championships. The novices cruised to a 34.3-second victory.

Survey Says
Radcliffe, which has been the No. 4 crew in the country all spring, will have raced the Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9 teams after Saturday's regatta.

About the Cup
The Muri Cup is named for Harvard men's freshman lightweight crew coach Linda Muri. A graduate of both MIT and Harvard, Muri was a decorated rower as an MIT undergraduate before graduating with a degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1986 and going on to earn a master's degree in education from Harvard in 1997. As an athlete, Muri is a three-time world champion, nine-time U.S national team member and 18-time national champion.

History Lesson
Radcliffe and MIT met for the inaugural Muri Cup last season, with the Black and White winning by more than 21 seconds. The Radcliffe second varsity finished more than 27 seconds ahead of MIT.

Wisconsin and Radcliffe see each other annually at the Eastern Sprints and IRA National Championships regattas but have only raced during the dual season twice, a Black and White win in 1998 and a Badgers win in 2001.

Scouting the Engineers
After suffering head-to-head losses to the likes of Stanford, Princeton and Bucknell, MIT (1-3 against lightweight competition) picked up its first dual win in impressive fashion last weekend, finishing more than 13 seconds ahead of Buffalo and about two seconds ahead of the Simmons heavyweight eight. The Engineers also had a strong showing in the Knecht Cup, placing second behind only Wisconsin in a six-boat field.

Scouting the Badgers
Wisconsin (3-0), which has claimed the last two and five of the last six national championships, has defeated Stanford, Princeton and Santa Clara in its only dual action thus far. All three matchups came at the Stanford Invitational. The Badgers beat Princeton by 2.8 seconds, Stanford by 8.7 and Santa Clara by 44.6. The second varsity also went undefeated against those foes, and the novices won their division at the Knecht Cup.

The Course
The Charles River's 2,000-meter race course starts about 100 meters upstream from the Longfellow Bridge in the Charles River Basin and ends in front of the Hyatt Regency hotel. Popular viewing points include the shoreline in front of the Hyatt and the Harvard Bridge (Massachusetts Avenue), which sits above the course's midpoint.