W. Crew leaves Navy, problems behind

The Penn women's crew team made news in the off-season with its highly-publicized feud with its coach, former Olympic gold medalist Carol Bower. The athletic department stepped in and resolved the dispute, but the effects of the blowup have only fueled the team's fire. "Trying to get Carol Bower fired really reinforced our work ethic," Quakers junior varsity coxswain Devin Hanley said. "We really felt like we had no coach, and that we had to do everything ourselves". Varsity member Allison Geuder put the best face on the situation saying, "Every single person involved wants women's crew to do well. Hating her or feeling animosity is not going to help us win. We are not going to let anything get in our way". On Saturday, Navy did its best to get in the way, but was unsuccessful. At the end of the Class of '91 Plate held on the Schuylkill River, the Midshipmen were behind the Penn varsity boat by 20 seconds. Not only did the Quakers varsity boat dominate the race, but so did the junior varsity boat, which won by 18 seconds, the freshmen boat, which won by 14 seconds and the second freshmen boat, which won by 11 seconds. "We were really pumped up," Penn co-captain Maggie Hansing said. That sentiment was echoed by Quakers senior Claire Swift, who attributed the team's strong performance to the hard work that was done in the off-season. "Everyone has improved," Swift said. "We did more indoor training this year than we've ever done. When we come together in the [varsity] eight, everyone is just working a lot harder." Navy is not in the Eastern Sprints League, and therefore Penn did not take them as seriously as it would some of its Ivy League opponents. "Navy was almost like a scrimmage to us, but in no way did we expect to lose," Geuder said. Over the last four years, the Quakers have beaten Navy by an average of 11.5 seconds at the Class of '91 Plate, so Saturday's win was not a surprise. Instead, Hansing viewed Navy as a good meet to get the team prepared for the stiff competition of Ivy crew powers like Yale -- who it will face Saturday -- Dartmouth and Princeton. The Quakers may not have the best relationship with their coach right now, but that issue has been pushed to the background in order to focus on the business at hand. If all goes according to plan, the rest of the Ivy League will be behind them, too.