Crew teams post strong results

The Penn crew teams started the fall season with a strong showing in Saturday's Navy Day Regatta. The lightweight men's boats started right where they left off last year. The freshmen began their collegiate rowing careers with a first-place finish, while the varsity scullers also raced well, coming in second place. Only a strong team from the Naval Academy prevented the lightweights from sweeping first place. Penn coach Bruce Konopka was very pleased with the finish. "We worked hard and did very well," he said. The heavyweight team did not have a winning boat, but Penn heavyweight coach Stan Bergman was happy with the overall results. "The guys did a nice job. We're moving right along where we should be," he said. Once again, it was the Navy which kept the Quakers from victory. Navy finished first in both the first varsity and second varsity heavyweight races. Penn's best varsity boat, though, finished just seven seconds behind the Midshipmen. Bergman is confident this team will be prepared for the spring. "We train hard, work on technique, work on conditioning, and try different things. Fall races are just part of the training," he said. Women's coach Carol Bower is very proud of her team's results Saturday, with good reason. The Quakers ended the day with a first-place finish and two second-place finishes. The women's varsity eight-person boat finished first over Temple and Navy. The varsity and JV four-person boats raced against five other boats in their respective races. Both teams finished behind Temple, the JV losing narrowly by six-tenths of a second. "Temple and Navy are always very strong at the beginning of the season so finishing where we did is a real confidence booster," Bower said. Senior co-captain, Maggie Hansing is also pleased with the results. "It was a really strong team performance, but more importantly, it gives us something to build upon," she said.