M. Crew ready to fling oars in water after loss

Only one of the Quakers' eight boats won their race this weekend on the Schuylkill River. "Things that Go Fling in the Night" may include boat oars, as only one of eight men's crew boats claimed victory in last Saturday's racing on the Schuylkill River. Yale's travels from New Haven proved rewarding as they won both the heavyweight Blackwell Cup and the lightweight Dodge Cup. In the heavyweight varsity eight race, Yale finished with a time of 5:32.5, compared to Penn's time of 5:35.8. Columbia was never a factor and finished far behind with a final time of 5:51.4. The low times indicate the tailwind and the smooth water at race time. The race was scheduled for an 11:15 a.m. start time, but did not begin for another 50 minutes because Quakers oarsman Garrett Miller's starboard rigor broke on the initial start. The boat docked at the Temple boathouse and was subsequently repaired. Because the problem occurred within the first 15 strokes of the race, Penn was allowed a legal restart. The problem, however, did not decide the outcome of the race. "It was a pain to warm up again, but it wasn't a major issue as it affected all three crews," senior stroke Tom Rymes said. The Penn rowers came out of the blocks with a stroke rating in the high 40s, and they settled at a 38 after the five starting strokes and the two power 10s. "We were out early and were even with Yale," Junior oarsman Greg Rauscher said. "At 700 meters they slowly pulled away, but never broke open water. We started coming back, but they were able to maintain the lead until the finish. We have a lot more power, but we need to work on getting together." In the lone victory of the weekend, the heavyweight second varsity boat was able to inch the Elis in an exciting race. The times were almost identical with only three one-hundredths of a second separating the two boats, 5:46.02 to 5:46.05. Columbia was again a non-factor as they were almost 20 seconds off the pace, crossing the line at 6:04.1. Both freshmen crews finished second to Yale. In the lightweight Dodge Cup race, the varsity eight finished third behind both Yale and Columbia. After juggling lineups throughout the week, the first boat used the same eights rowers as the previous week's race for the Matthew's Cup in Ithaca, N.Y. Yale and Columbia started fast and were close at the 1,000-meter mark, with the Quakers further behind. In the last 700 meters the Bulldogs powered away to win by more than a length. Yale's winning time was 5:40.3, with Columbia second at 5:44.7 and Penn third at 5:52.0. "We picked up a little bit of time on Yale since San Diego," junior five seat Dan Blaney said. "Columbia is also pretty quick. They have a lot of guys in the senior class who are really good and two strong sophomores." The lightweight JV and first freshmen both finished third, duplicating the varsity finish with Yale as the victors, followed by Columbia and then the Quakers. The second freshmen boat had the highest finish in the lightweight program with an eight-second loss to Columbia but ahead of two Yale boats.