In the Schuylkill River Saturday, the women's crew team defeated Syracuse, Northeastern and a strong headwind to win the Orange Challenge Cup. Penn got off to a crisp start and cruised from there, leading the race from start to finish. The Red and Blue won with a time of 6 minutes, 54 seconds, beating Syracuse by five seconds and Northeastern by 10. "Psychologically, it was a big win for us," said Penn coach Carol Bower, whose team was at a crossroads after beating Navy and then struggling to an eighth-place finish at the San Diego Classic two weeks ago. "We've hopped over the fence, and now we're going to join the big guys." Penn raced especially well considering the strong headwind. "We handled the conditions better than anybody," Bower said. "We knew we were very good with a tailwind, but this race showed we could handle other crews during a headwind." The win marked the first time this season the Quakers rowed well the entire race. Earlier this season Penn had struggled with the start and the third quarter of the contest. "We had been getting parts of the race down," Bower said. "This one we really kept our focus throughout and put the whole race together." The Red and Blue benefitted from two strategic moves during the race. Following the first 500 meters, coxswain Kate Lehman called for a strong power ten. This move upped the Quakers' intensity and helped boost them into the second quarter of the race. "It really pushed us together," co-captain Allison Goldstein said. "It didn't let us relax, and it got everyone together moving." Penn also used a flutter ten just after the halfway mark of the race. The Quakers picked up their stroke rate for ten strokes, and then brought it back down, enabling them to break away from Syracuse by putting water between the two boats. The Quakers perfected the flutter ten after having nearly two weeks to prepare. Penn was off last weekend after its trip to San Diego. "The week off helped because we needed the rest," Bower said. "It gave us the chance to drill the race and the flutter ten. When you make changes in your race plan, you need time to practice it." The week off also gave Penn a chance to practice two settles, which the Quakers performed Saturday. After their start, they went from a rate of 42 strokes per minute to 38 before dropping to 34. "This was an important race," Goldstein said. "Since we didn't race last week, this got us back into our season and kept our momentum going." Penn's season continues this Saturday when it travels to Rutgers to take on the Scarlet Knights and Cornell. The race is on the Raritan River for the Class of '89 plate. · In other Penn crew action, the men's heavyweight team dropped a close race at the Childs Cup on the Harlem River in New York. The Quakers finished in a time of 5:45.29, less than a second behind Princeton. The Red and Blue did place above host Columbia. The men's lightweight team also racked up a second-place finish. Competing at the Dodge Cup on the friendly waters of the Schuylkill River, the Quakers were blown out of the water by Yale, whose top boat posted a time of 6:01.7. Penn finished nearly 12 seconds later in 6:13.1. Again, the Red and Blue beat out Columbia, which finished last in the tri-meet.
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