"As the gentleman once said. 'Eat 'em!'," said the notice accompanying the bag of chocolate kisses in Weld boathouse last Saturday morning. It did not refer to the kisses themselves, though. Instead, the notice was aimed at the fourteen women's crews which went to the line last Sunday in an attempt to depose Radcliffe's heavyweight eight as the premier women's crew in the East.

And again, for the third time in as many years, the attempt to defeat Radcliffe was futile, as the boat successfully fought off a strong Wisconsin challenge to win the third Eastern Women's Rowing Association championships on the waters of Lake Beseck. Conn.

The victory meant more than the Eastern championship, though. Much more. By smashing Wisconsin and Yale in the most competitive regatta in the country, the crew established itself as the fastest collegiate eight in the nation.

Wisconsin, Yale, and Radcliffe all entered the EWRA undefeated. Yale was first-seeded, although the reasons for the choice were far from clear. Both the Elis and Radcliffe could boast of having beaten certain common opponents by more than the other crew had.

Wisconsin was seeded sixth, and was in the first heat with Yale on Sunday morning. The Badgers quickly disposed of any notions that Yale might be the best in the East, upsetting the Elis by a stunning two lengths on the 1000-meter course.

In the second heat, Radcliffe easily handled number five seed Williams, winning by slightly over one length, as the top crews in each heat advanced to the finals.

Meanwhile, Princeton and Dartmouth both defeated third-ranked UMass in the third heat, to reach the championship round, which was held seven hours later.

The Radcliffe squad was clearly worried by the fact that in the heats Wisconsin had recorded a time six seconds better than they had. This, coupled with the fact that Yale had originally been seeded to win, seemed to shake their confidence.

In fact, many of those at Lake Beseck felt that Radcliffe's two-year monopoly of the event was about to end.

But this was not to be, for Radcliffe jumped on the Badgers for a two-seat lead after only ten strokes, and slowly lengthened their lead to a full length by the end of the race. Again, the 'Cliffe is the kingpin of women's collegiate towing.

The highly-touted Eli boat finished third, a length astern of Wisconsin. "We wanted it so badly. It was just a matter of going out there and doing it," coxswain Nancy Hadley said after the race.

Women's rowing is a recent entrant to the collegiate sports scene. The foundation of the EWRA only three years ago marked the official beginning of what has now become a major collegiate sporting event. Before that time only a few women's crew existed. And most of them, such as Wellesley (which had the first women's crew) did not compete at all. Instead, rowing was viewed merely as pleasant exercise.

But new ideas have arisen, and things have changed. Practices at 5:30 a.m., workouts twice a day over spring vacation, and a year-round commitment have all blossomed into reality. Or, for some of the oarswomen, involved, it is a daily ordeal.

"We have to make a lot of sacrifices, and sometimes you wonder whether its worth it--until race season comes, and you start winning," stroke Barbara Norris said last night.

Three years ago John Baker, an ex-Harvard heavyweight oarsman, assumed Radcliffe's coaching chores on a no-salary, volunteer basis. Around a nucleus of five freshmen. Baker built the crew into national champions in the space of a single season.