Crew teams perform admirably at Head of the Charles Regatta

The heavyweight men's and the women's crew teams spent the weekend in Boston competing in one of the world's biggest regattas, The Head of the Charles. The women's crew Championship Eight boat finished fifth out of the 36 universities competing in the race. Only Princeton and Brown from the Ivy League finished ahead of the Quakers. The Championship Four boat finished in 12th place and the Youth Eight, a team of recruited freshmen, placed third. "We discovered that we are up with the best teams. I came away thinking we did very well, but we know we can do better," Penn women's coach Carol Bower said. Bower felt the hectic nature of the race provided a big test for the team. "It's very intense with 35 boats at the starting line, but they handled it very well." The race is staggered, with a boat starting every 10 seconds, but it is vital to have a good starting position, which is assigned arbitrarily. If a boat can't get into position, it severely hurts the team's chances to get a fast time. Thanks to a good starting position, the women's teams put together a great race. "They pulled very hard, but we know that we can improve and be at the top," Bower said. The men's posted solid results, with the Championship Eight crew finishing 12th out of 41 boats, and the Youth Eight boat finishing sixth in a field of 31. The heavyweights lost to Ivy League competitors Princeton, Yale and Brown. "We finished in the middle of the pack. We are in the midst of things right now," Penn heavyweight coach Stan Bergman said. The U.S. National Team, which will compete in the Atlanta Summer Olympics, won the race, beating the fastest collegiate team, Princeton. "The guys rowed pretty well. We've got to get better, though, and that's what training is for," Bergman said. In addition to having to deal with a crowded start, the teams had to deal with windy, choppy conditions and the particularly curvy nature of the Charles River. It was a difficult test for the coxswains, who had to navigate the river and its especially tough hairpin turn at the end of the course. The intensity and difficulty of the regatta provided both Quakers teams with the chance to show they are for real this year. But with the halfway point of the fall season approaching, they must continue to work hard in order to head into the spring with a strong foundation.