W. Crew crushes Navy, despite varsity eight's loss

The Penn women's crew team worked harder this offseason than it ever has, and the hard work paid off last week in the Quakers' total domination of Navy. The average margin of victory in each race was almost 12 seconds. However, the Midshipmen were nowhere near the caliber of competition that the Quakers will face in the Ivy League. Saturday at the Connell Cup on the Housatonic River, the Quakers faced a Yale team that was just coming off a win, and a Columbia team that was also coming off a win against Tennessee. The last time this race was held on the Housatonic, Penn lost to the Elis by the slim margin of .30 seconds. But on Saturday, the Quakers won the Connell Cup for the first time in 12 years. However, the day was marred when the Penn varsity eight lost to Yale by nine seconds. "It was a good day for the program," Quakers coach Carol Bower said. The junior varsity, the freshmen and the second freshmen boats all won their races, making up for the varsity eight's loss and earning Penn the Cup. "Coming out of the water the girls knew tha t they were just as good as Yale's varsity eight," Bower said. Bower went on to explain that although the varsity loss was tough, it is still early in the season, and there is a lot of experimenting going on in the lineup. This weekend, the Quakers were without the stroke of junior Bahtia Meera, who was sidelined with an injury. The Quakers' loss will affect their Eastern ranking, but as Bower pointed out, "We still have one big race in the end that decides everything." Bower was referring to the Eastern Sprints, the end-of-the-year race among the top teams on the East Coast. Right now, the Quakers seem confident that they will continue to improve. Winning the Connell Cup was just a stepping stone in what Penn hopes will be a season full of victories.