Crew rowers are still looking for just the right mix

The Penn heavyweight and women's crew teams traveled to Boston for the Head of the Charles Regatta hoping to place highly against some of the best crew teams in the country. Instead, they left disappointed and realizing they still had work to do to catch the elite teams. The heavyweight team rowed four boats at the Charles. The two youth eight-man boats finished in eighth and 12th place. The championship four-man boat finished ninth, while in the featured eight-man championship race, Penn finished 21st. The championship race was won by the U.S. national team. "The results were disappointing," heavyweight coach Stan Bergman said. "We are getting more competitive, but the results could have been better." The race was even more of a letdown after the Quakers had rowed their best race of the season the previous week in Rochester, where Penn finished second overall. "The Rochester race was a much better indicator of our potential," senior captain Patrick Redmond said. Bergman said the team will keep training hard and concentrate on getting ready for the main crew season in the spring. The team is still experimenting with different lineups in each boat, which can lead to inconsistent results. "We were too conservative in the race," Redmond said. "We'll benefit from having the combination row together more." Bergman said the Quakers will not let the results affect them as they focus on the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta this Saturday. · The women's crew team also did not place as highly as it would have liked. The youth eight finished sixth overall. The championship four finished eighth. The championship eight finished 15th of 37 teams. "The team wasn't happy with the performance," coach Carol Bower said. "The first half of the race was good, but the second half wasn't." Bower said the team will gain better endurance as it continues to train. Penn started training two weeks after most other crew teams, so it has been in a constant race to catch up. "The third part of the race is the toughest," Bower said. "You have to be able to push through and keep pressing even when your body is screaming to stop." Still, the team did find some positive results from the competition. Bower said the team is gaining time over its main Ivy rivals. The Quakers also got off to a better start than in previous races. "We were too complacent in the last race," senior captain Allison Goodman said. "We worked hard and were more aggressive this time." Bower herself competed at the Head of the Charles as a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team boat. The 1980 team never competed in the Olympics because the United States boycotted the games at Moscow. Bower finished sixth overall in the championship race.