The No. 8 women's crew won seven of eight races against tough competition at Griggs Reservoir in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday.
The Bears came out strong in their first official action in two weeks. Brown was scheduled to race Radcliffe — the name of the Harvard women's crew team — on April 4, but high winds forced the relocation of the competition and the cancellation of official results.
In a double duals format that featured full slates of races in both the morning and the afternoon, Bruno faced No. 12 Ohio State in the morning, No. 18 Minnesota in the afternoon and Notre Dame in both sessions.
Brown's second varsity eight, varsity four and second varsity four each won twice, while the varsity eight fell only to Ohio State.
The Bears began the morning with a dominant showing, cruising to wins in both fours races. The second varsity four led off with a victory in a time of 7:40.90, followed by Ohio State at 7:45.49 and Notre Dame at 7:59.19.
The varsity four laid down a scorching time of 7:11.50 to trounce the Buckeyes and the Fighting Irish, who each lagged more than 10 seconds behind. Ohio State crossed the line at 7:21.94 and Notre Dame followed at 7:24.10.
The second varsity eight held off a strong Buckeye rally to cross the line at 6:25.80, just 1.46 seconds ahead of Ohio State in the tightest finish of the day and 13.34 seconds ahead of Notre Dame.
But the Buckeyes had the Bears' number in the varsity eight, surging to a season-best time of 6:22.60 to finish 6.07 seconds ahead of Brown. Notre Dame followed at 6:31.54.
The afternoon began the same way the morning did for Bruno, with two strong wins in the fours. The second varsity four improved by 20 seconds on the first race to finish with a time of 7:20.6. Minnesota followed at 7:28.22 and Notre Dame trailed at 7:41.21.
The varsity four cruised home with a time of 7:12.40, 7.42 seconds better than the Golden Gophers and 12.67 seconds better than the Irish.
The second varsity eight secured Brown's third straight victory, finishing with a time of 6:32.20. Notre Dame followed at 6:36.78 and Minnesota brought up the rear at 6:50.73.
The varsity eight turned it up a notch in the final race of the day, posting the best overall time of the day to hold off a tough Gophers challenge. Brown finished with a time of 6:22.00, followed by Minnesota at 6:25.91 and Notre Dame at 6:27.33.
The Bears will host their first race of the year this Saturday on the Seekonk River against Boston University before the men's crew takes on Northeastern.
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