Crew teams face busy weekend

Sixty-eight, 67, 70. These three numbers are the expected temperatures for the next three days in San Diego. Luckily for the Penn crew teams, they may be able to soak in some rays in Southern California while visiting for the San Diego Crew Classic Sunday, while the rest of the Penn campus will be coming up with original ways to sneak alcohol into the Quad for Spring Fling. And for all the crew junkies out in West Philly, this weekend is pure regatta heaven. The men's crew team is looking to rebound from a tough loss to Princeton on Lake Carnegie Wednesday. Although the third entry in the Childs Cup, Columbia, was no match for either Penn or Princeton, the Tigers were able to cruise past the Quakers in every race except for one freshman boat. "Things did not go real well," coach Stan Bergman said. "The guys raced really well, but Princeton was faster. We've got to bounce back. That's what athletics is all about. We've got to find some answers. The guys raced hard, but we just came up on the short end." Washington won the Classic last year and expects to be the favorite this year. The Huskies, along with Stanford, Oregon State and Cal-Santa Barbara will join the Quakers in their heat. Harvard, Wisconsin and Temple expect to make the most noise in the other heat. Last year, Penn did come back and beat Washington later in the year. But the Quakers understand the importance of starting the year on the right note. "Washington is always fast in the beginning of the year," Bergman said. "Sometimes you have speed early, but hopefully we are going to gain speed as the year goes on." Not to be outdone by its male counterpart, the women's crew team will not only send its varsity and JV boats to sunny California, but it will also send four other boats to race in the Orange Challenge Cup tomorrow in Syracuse against the Orangemen and Northeastern. Although the Cup would be nice to win, the Classic is of upmost importance. "Each boat is primarily focused on their own race, but my main focus is on San Diego," coach Carol Bower said. The Quakers usually get a chance to make this trip only once every three years due to financial reasons, so the Red and Blue wants to make this visit worthwhile. The stiffest competition is expected from Washington, California, Syracuse and Wisconsin. Although the Penn rowers will enjoy the weather, they are not planning to be gracious guests to some of these formidable West Coast teams. "We've been through a long, rough selection process," Bower said. "The first selection didn't really work. It wasn't a crew that I was satisfied with. Not that the people were bad, but the combination wasn't right. Tuesday we found the combination for the varsity that is going to allow the strong bodies to work together this weekend." Bower might have one eye watching what she considers to be an excellent match tomorrow between the Penn third varsity team and Syracuse's junior varsity boat. "If the weekend is good, it will set the tone for the rest of the year," Bower said. "If its bad, I hope it doesn't." Not to feel left out, the Penn lightweight crew team will join the party and fly down to San Diego. The lightweight squad is also splitting up, as its JV and freshmen boats will travel to scenic Ithaca, N.Y., to race against Ivy-foes Cornell and Harvard in the Matthew/Leonard Cup on Cayuga Lake. In San Diego, the lightweights will set out to defend their title, but powerhouses such as Harvard and Fordham will not make it easy. "Everybody is working really hard," coach Bruce Konopka said. "We had a really strong showing last weekend in the Lev Brett Cup and the team is very confident." At Cornell, the Big Red will not act as friendly hosts. It has really come on in recent years. "They're pretty good," Konopka said. "The last couple of years the Cornell program has gotten real big. Both them and Harvard have full-time coaches." If it's crew you've been longing for, this weekend will more than satisfy your appetite as every crew team and boat will be competing somewhere.