Crew teams have busy weekend

Thanks, San Diego, but Penn likes the Schuylkill just fine. The Penn heavyweight crew team finished a respectable fourth in the varsity and third in the junior varsity races in the San Diego Crew Classic this weekend. "It could have been better," coach Stan Bergman said. "But it went alright." The Quakers' varsity squad finished third in its heat Saturday to qualify for the Copley Cup the following day. In the finals, Harvard, Washington and Temple got the better of Penn, which finished the race in a time of 6 minutes, 11 seconds. The Quaker boat did manage to cross the finish-line before Wisconsin and California. "We always like to feel that we could race faster," Bergman said. "If you don't win the race, you always have goals to shoot for. They're rowing hard, but we just have to get a little quicker. I'm not discouraged and I don't think the guys are. We just have to get better." The junior varsity boat was beaten by Washington and Harvard, yet it cruised past Orange Coast College, Cal and Stanford, finishing in 6:05.97. Both Penn boats were beaten by the Crimson, a top-Ivy foe, but that should not come as a big surprise -- Harvard has won the race four of the last five years. "Harvard is always tough," Bergman said. "Their program is excellent." The Quakers believe they haven't peaked yet and the long selection process of finding the right boat may not be done. This weekend's performance showed the Quakers must be included when mentioning top crew schools, but don't expect them to be at the top of the list?yet. "I hope we haven't peaked," Bergman said. "At least if we have, we are in a lot of trouble." · No, that wasn't a misprint. The Penn women's crew team did compete Saturday in the Orange Challenge Cup in Syracuse and also Saturday and Sunday in the San Diego Crew Classic. It just wasn't the same two teams. The varsity and junior varsity Quakers traveled to sunny California, while the third varsity and novice boats were blessed with a trip to upstate New York. Sounds fair, huh? Well, if the lesser boats were at all upset with their destination, they sure took it out on their opponents. All Penn boats swept Syracuse and Northeastern. Their elder teammates also raced well, but didn't come home with the Cup. The varsity boat finished fourth in the finals of the Whittier Cup in San Diego with a time of 7:12.77, trailing only Washington, Cal and Wisconsin. The junior varsity squad crossed the line third (7:03.95) while Washington, continuing its perennial dominance of the Classic, edged out Washington State. "I'm very pleased," coach Carol Bower said. "That challenged us and gave us the opportunity to go up against some quality crew teams. It gave us an idea of what the West Coast was up to as well as Wisconsin." Racing away from home, even if it is San Diego, does not come without its drawbacks. One big one is having to use another team's boat, which usually isn't that school's best one. This caused for an uncomfortable ride for the Quakers. "It's never quite the same when you are not racing in their top boat," Bower said. "You end up using a boat that is not top quality. But they did a real good job and hung tough in the race. I think we're in an excellent position for the rest of the year. This race experience was worthwhile." In Syracuse, the weather wasn't quite as nice. Facing extremely harsh winds, the race had to be altered from one 2,000-meter race to two 1,000 races. But the Quakers would not let nature, or the Orangemen, have their way as they brought home a "W." This weekend gave the upper echelon of the team a chance at some top quality experience away from home. Although they may not be entirely thrilled with the results, the trip should help in the long run. In addition, the top rowers might want to watch their back because the other boats showed they can make some noise too. · Back to back? Sorry, Penn. The lightweight Quaker squad failed in its attempt to repeat its victory in the San Diego Crew Classic. The Red and Blue finished fourth to Harvard, Fordham and Cambridge at 6:35.72, while outlasting Santa Clara and Pacific Lutheran.